In a breakthrough year for girls flag football in Alaska and across the nation, North Pole High School was at the forefront. The Patriots both won the first ASAA-sanctioned flag football state title and had two athletes selected to compete in the first-ever NFL FLAG High School Girls Showcase.
Camryn Williams and Tiahna Gumzan were two of just 30 high school seniors nationwide who had the opportunity to travel to Orlando, Florida for the 2025 NFL Pro Bowl Games last weekend.
Selections were made by the USA TODAY Sports Super 25 flag football selection committee, which ranked the Patriots No. 8 nationally after their 15-1 season ended with a state title in October.
Williams and Guzman played linebacker and defensive back, respectively, in the NFL FLAG High School Girls Showcase game on the team representing the National Football Conference (NFC) against the American Football Conference (AFC). That was a familiar position for Williams, who tallied 30 tackles (or flag pulls) this season. Guzman, meanwhile, played both sides of the ball this past season.
She recorded 48 tackles and 11 interceptions on defense and 1,131 yards of offense rushing and receiving with 12 total touchdowns, according to stats logged in the team’s MaxPreps profile. Guzman is set to play collegiately at Bryant & Stratton College at the junior college level in Wauwatosa, Wisconsin.
The NFL FLAG High School Girls Showcase game took place just before the AFC-NFC Pro Bowl game between NFL players on Sunday, Feb. 2
“I thought it was gonna be intimidating at first, but it did not feel that way,” Williams said of playing in the flag showcase game, which aired on ESPN. “It didn’t feel like thousands and millions of people were watching. It just felt like a regular old game.”
Williams found out she’d been selected by a FaceTime from her coach and remembers it vividly.
“I was super shocked,” Williams said. “I almost started crying. I was shaking. I was so excited.”
The North Pole pair was in the Sunshine State from Jan. 30 through Feb. 3. In addition to playing in their own game, they attended the AFC-NFC Pro Bowl game and met many of the players, highlighted by Minnesota Vikings wide receiver Justin Jefferson, who was second in the NFL in receiving yards this season. They also visited Disney Springs and Epcot.
The highlight, however, for Williams was meeting the other senior girls playing in the flag football showcase, who came from the nine other states that have sanctioned girls flag football.
“All the girls were super nice,” Williams said. “It was easy to make connections, surprisingly, and I hope we keep those connections.”
She said she and Guzman were memorable being from Alaska, and their peers didn’t expect them to be from an ‘actual regular town.’
“They thought we didn’t have a Walmart or a Costco and stuff like that.”
The North Pole Patriots beat every flag football team they played over the course of the 2024 season, losing just once to the Wasilla Warriors by five points and beating them by 15 points in a rematch one week later. Their state title was the first won by an Interior team in any sport in two years, dating back to 2022.
Guzman could not be reached for comment.
Contact Gavin Struve at gstruve@newsminer.com or 907-459-7544
