LAKEWOOD – Saturday, August 17, was a historic day for high school sports.

After two pilot seasons of girls flag football that saw Chatfield and Arvada West, both Jeffco Public School teams, capture state championship titles, Saturday marked opening day of the first season as a Colorado High School Activities Association-sanctioned sport for the extremely popular and growing sport of girls flag football.

“I’m so excited. When I heard Colorado was the 11th state to allow flag football for girls, I was thrilled,” said A-West coach Lacey Abell, who is a member of the U.S. women’s national flag football team. “I think it’s great in general that this sport is accessible to girls. We see these girls here just giving it their all in a sport. I couldn’t be more excited about the growth of this sport.”

Abell takes over the Wildcats program, which returns most of its state championship team that had a perfect 25-0 record last year. The Wildcats opened the season ranked No. 1 in the CHSAA Coaches Poll preseason rankings.

“With the preseason rankings, we’re somewhat of a target,” Abell said. “I think we’re ready to defend them.”

A-West appeared ready to go on Saturday morning with a convincing 35-0 win over Legend in the first games of the season at Trailblazer Stadium.

Veteran quarterback Saylor Swanson threw five touchdown passes in the win, while sophomore Katie Hufford and senior Sara Walker both caught touchdowns on fourth down attempts in the first half to give the Wildcats a 13-0 lead.

Due to larger field dimensions and rule changes that allow defenses to use multiple rushers, the quarterback position is even more important this season.

“I like it,” Swanson said of the new rules. “We have to throw a lot of shorter passes. You have to pick apart the defense more than just throwing long passes. I think every now and then we can try a long throw.”

Swanson threw a second touchdown pass to Walker early in the third quarter to extend the lead to 21-0. Juniors Santana Pena and Alyssa Alberts both caught a touchdown in the fourth quarter to start the clock running with a 30-point lead entering the final quarter.

“She (Swanson) is an athlete,” Abell said. “She also makes smart decisions about what to do and what not to do. She has a high (football) IQ and is getting better and better.”

A-West’s defense was equally impressive, shutting down Legend. Junior Linley McReynolds scored a defensive point on a safety in the second quarter by sacking Legend quarterback Madi Smolen in the end zone.

“I was excited all season,” McReynolds said. “We played club season with other girls on this team. It was really exciting with all the new rules.”

A-West also had two interceptions, with senior Molly Schellpepper and freshman Harper Tillman catching the passes.

“Offense wins games and defense wins championships,” Abell said of the Wildcats’ clean sheet victory over the Titans.

Legend rebounded with a 7-0 win over Pomona in the second of four games at Trailblazer Stadium. Pomona was the top-ranked 4A team in the preseason coaches poll.

Mountain Vista — No. 5 in the preseason 5A rankings — proved in game three that A-West has a tough road ahead to defend the state title. The Golden Eagles surprised the Wildcats with a 25-13 win.