MURFREESBORO − Will Hester launched Ravenwood’s girls flag football program four years ago, leading the Raptors to back-to-back Williamson County championships before passing the reigns, and high expectations, to Ricky Rodriguez, then an assistant with Ravenwood football.
Now in his second year at the helm of the flag football program, Rodriguez took that success Hester started, and took it to the next level. Rodriguez and the Raptors won the inaugural TSSAA girls flag football state invitational on Thursday, defeating Stone Memorial 34-14 in the championship game.
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Once the celebration subsides, he’ll turn his attention to Ravenwood football’s 2025 season, where Rodriguez will replace Hester after being named the football coach on May 6 following Hester’s resignation to become a Brentwood Middle assistant principal.
“I owe him a lot and he built this program, just like he built our boys program,” Rodriguez said. “And I’m just honored to be able to represent this community with coaches that I love and girls that I love. It’s amazing.”
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Rodriguez credits Hester in helping him grow as a coach, emphasizing few aspects of the job are more important than building relationships with players, something he’s carried over to the flag football program.
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“What separates (Hester) is his focus on the culture that he builds,” Rodriguez said. “We hold our kids accountable, we want them to play the game the right way. And then the focus on relationships, right? There is no coach, that I’ve ever seen, that is better at reaching young men’s hearts than Will Hester. And if I can take a little bit of that and pour it into our boys and our girls, I think we’re gonna be okay.”
Junior quarterback Caroline Merville joined the team ahead of Rodriguez’s first season in charge and quickly took to his coach style.
Merville had two touchdowns in the championship game and has been impressed throughout her tenure at quarterback by Rodriguez’s football mind.
“He always has an answer for everything. If I just listen to anything he says, it always goes right,” Merville said. “He’s an amazing coach”
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Even with additional responsibilities taking over the football program from Hester, Rodriguez still plans to lead the girls flag football program next season as it defends its crown. And as his attention shifts to football, the focus becomes adding to the culture Hester established.
“If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. But of course, what Coach Hester also (told me) is, ‘Hey, you got to be Ricky Rodriguez. You don’t need to try to be anybody else.’
“But at the same time, you take what you learned from one of the best high school coaches in the state, right? And then you sprinkle a little bit of what you’re really good at right on top of it.”
TSSAA to decide sport’s future over the summer
Ravenwood’s linebacker Josie Lockridge (3) and Ravenwood’s linebacker Lindsey Lee (7) both celebrate the over time win against Walker Valley during a semifinal game in the TSSAA girls flag football state invitational, on Thursday, May 8, 2025, at Murfreesboro’s Richard Siegel Park.
Tennessee is the 10th state to sanction girls flag football as a sport and 131 teams from across the state participated in its inaugural season. While the sport’s growth in recent years led to its sanctioning as an emerging sport, the participation in its first year exceeded even the TSSAA’s expectations.
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“I don’t know why we (were) surprised because if you talk to some of the surrounding states who picked it up they say, ‘Once you do it, it’s going to go,’” TSSAA executive director Mark Reeves said. “But still when you actually see that come to fruition and see the number of schools … it’s a new opportunity for so many kids, which is what we want to do …”
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The next step in the sport’s future comes this summer at a June 10-11 Board of Control meeting, where the TSSAA will decide on whether or not designate an official TSSAA state championship for girls flag football.
“There’s no doubt this needs to be a sanctioned sport,” Rodriguez said. “I would advocate for it to remain in the spring as well, because I want to be a part of it and talking to other high school football coaches that are involved with their girls flag programs, they want the same. “It’s a great event. The sport’s (going to) blow up.”
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Harrison Campbell covers high school sports for The Daily Herald and The Tennessean. Email him at hcampbell@gannett.com and follow him on X (formerly Twitter) @hccamp.
This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: TSSAA flag football: Ricky Rodriguez, Ravenwood wins inaugural title
