Girls flag football is now a sanctioned sport in Pennsylvania thanks to some help from the state's two NFL programs, the Steelers and Eagles.

Pennsylvania made flag football an officially sanctioned girls' high school sport Wednesday amid a push from the commonwealth's NFL teams to encourage more female athletes to get on the field. The approval from the Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association -- the statewide body that governs high school athletics in the commonwealth -- makes flag football an official sport for girls in the nation's fifth-most populous state starting in the 2025-26 school year.

The Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association officially sanctioned girls flag football as a championship sport Wednesday.

More than 100 schools in Pennsylvania plan to start a girls' flag football program with the season slated to start in the 2025-26 school year.

Three other Arizona teams made the weekly poll, which debuted Thursday and ranks the top 25 high school flag football teams.

Defending GHSA Division 2 flag football state champion Greenbrier earned national recognition this week. Here's how the Lady Pack stack up in 2024.

L-L League athletic directors met Thursday and discussed girls flag football for the first time. They left their meeting with more questions than answers. But once the NFHS and PIAA jibe on the rules and regulations, more programs around the state should start popping up.

The Steelers and Eagles combined to help grow the sport and aided in getting it sanctioned as a high school sport in Pennsylvania

In partnership with the NFL and NFHS Network, the inaugural girls flag football Super 25 kicks off a fall season for seven sanctioned states.

Close calls and blowout wins headlined the Super 25 football action in Week 5, while St. Edward and Cocoa both fell to the upset trend.

The 2024 girls high school volleyball season moves ahead to Week 4 with the top teams holding steady atop the USA TODAY Sports/AVCA Super 25 rankings