Thursday, October 1, 2026
After enduring a winless inaugural season, the Oceanside girls’ flag football team has flipped the script in dramatic fashion this spring, emerging as one of Nassau County’s biggest success stories.
The Sailors opened with eight straight victories and currently sit at 9-3 with two games remaining, a remarkable leap from last year’s 0-14 finish. First-year head coach Brian Gilbert credited a surge in participation and steady development for the turnaround.
“We got a lot more girls involved, kind of hyped it up in the preseason,” he said. “We stretch anywhere from seventh grade all the way up to twelfth grade… and then just pretty much got better every day.”
That growth was evident early. Oceanside’s offense, which only produced 28 points a year ago, quickly found its rhythm behind a balanced attack and an opportunistic defense. The Sailors scored 30 or more points in three games during their 8-0 start, highlighted by a 32-7 win over East Rockaway on March 25 and a 31-0 shutout of West Hempstead on April 17.
“[Our] strength is our defense, and our passing game is pretty good,” he said. “We have a young quarterback that could throw the ball. We could throw the ball deeper and be a deeper threat than most teams at the age we’re at.”
That quarterback is seventh-grader Gabby Ward, whose poise has stood out despite competing against older players.
“I tell her she’s a seventh grader when she’s in the classroom, and then when she steps on the field, forget what grade she’s in,” Gilbert said. “She competes at whatever level we’re playing at.”
Ward has helped unlock a group of emerging playmakers, including freshman receiver Caeleigh Kourie, who led the team with seven touchdowns entering May.
“Caeleigh’s awesome,” Gilbert said. “She’s an aggressive player. She goes 100 percent every play.”
Oceanside also received key offensive contributions from seventh-graders Olivia Gonzalez (5 touchdowns) and Kelsey Johnson (3) and junior Gianna Ward (5), while the defense has generated a steady stream of takeaways behind ball-hawking safeties Sydney Goldstein and Kylie Hickey and an active pass rush led by Johnson and senior Janelle Orellana.
“Janelle is a captain who leads our team on and off the field,” Gilbert said of Orellana.
Despite the fast start, the Sailors’ postseason hopes were dashed by a late-season skid. Losses in three of their last four games dropped them out of contention in Conference C, where teams must win 90 percent of games to qualify
The recent losses have been close, including a 14-13 defeat to Jericho last Friday in which Oceanside allowed a touchdown and two-point conversion in the final 30 seconds. The Sailors needed a fourth-quarter touchdown to beat the Jayhawks 13-12 in the first meeting on March 27.
“The first time we saw them, it was a tough, close game. It went in our favor the first time,” he said. “The second one went their way, unfortunately.”
Even without a playoff berth, the Sailors have a bright future with a roster heavily composed of underclassmen and nearly the entire team expected to return.
“We have about 97 percent of the team returning,” Gilbert said. “Just build on that experience and get better.”
