Latrobe gym teacher and head coach for the Latrobe girls basketball team is about to take on another role at Latrobe. Coach Mackenzie Livingston is making history at Latrobe by starting the first ever girls flag football team for GLHS.
While this will be the first year of experience for the team at Latrobe, Livingston has past experience with flag football. Not only has she been playing football for Indiana Women’s Flag Football League and All Star Team the past six years, she also coached for Jeanettes High School flag football team last year. This gave her inspiration to start Latrobe’s program.
Coach Livingston, a Wide Receiver and Safety, had the chance to travel to Florida for her professional league “I do travel all over the country for my professional league so it’s just been something that I enjoy and they are starting to bring it to high schools and girls are getting scholarships all over for college so that’s kind of a reason I’m bringing it here,” said Livingston.
Coach Livingston is determined to make this program successful at Latrobe and, more importantly, ensure the girls have fun doing it. “I want the girls to enjoy it. Next year it’s going to be an official sport so this year it’s really just getting them used to the sport, learning the rules, and learning to play together,” said Livingston.
PIAA has officially sanctioned High School Girls Flag Football in Pennsylvania beginning in the 2025-26 school year. PIAA now joins 12 other state associations to sanction girls flag football.
With the combined efforts of the Pittsburgh Steelers and the Philadelphia Eagles, there are over 100 girls flag football teams in Pennsylvania. Latrobe will play in the Pittsburgh Steelers Eastern Division along with Burrell, Gateway, Greensburg Salem, McKeesport, Penn Hills, Plum, Braddock Hills, and Woodland Hills.
The Steelers provide first-year programs with $3,000, while returning schools are granted $1,500. Nike will also provide custom uniforms, flag belts, and footballs while USA Football will provide flag kits that include flags, cones, and footballs. “I think it is really cool they are supporting female sports and giving us an opportunity to play,” said freshman recruit Natalia Scekeres.
The Pittsburgh Steelers will be a huge part of starting the team for Latrobe. “They give us so much money to get uniforms, footballs, and they host everything. They even do media days so Steelers guys will come out and film us, and we will be on TV so it’s just a cool experience working with a pro organization,” said Livingston.
Latrobe will begin its six-week season at the end of March with an estimate of 20 girls interested in playing on the team. This team will consist of girls coming from multiple sports teams to play together to start this team. Livingston believes this is an important skill for the girls to learn to work together. “These are girls who are coming from all different sports, so just having different teammates than you’re used to I think will be something good for them,” said coach Livingston.
One of the challenges coach Mackenzie Livingston thinks she will face is conflicting sports schedules. “Working around all the spring sports may be a challenge. We have a lot of girls with softball, track, and travel ball so we really have to work around those schedules. However, our games are only on Sundays, so girls playing other sports will be able to play,” said Livingston.
While conflicting schedules may be a problem, Livingston also sees benefits for the girls coming together. “Flag football is tough, you have to have speed, agility, and pretty much everything you would do in a different sport,” said Livingston.
“I am excited that this allows me to play a new sport with a different group of girls and make history at Latrobe,” said Natalia Scekeres.
The team will have the end goal of making it to the championship, where they would get to play at Acrisure Stadium. “It would be awesome to step foot on the field, let alone get to play on it,” said Scekeres.
“If we can get the word out there in the Latrobe area it would be huge,” said Mackenzie Livingston. Livingston’s passion and initiative will leave a lasting impact on Latrobe’s Athletics in the years going forward with the team.
