League of their own: Chocowinity athletes thriving in new flag football program

Published 9:20 am Friday, June 6, 2025

By Jason O. Boyd

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CHOCOWINITY, N.C. — Children were twisting and turning, running and jumping.

Younger ones were showing off their moves while a number of older children were practicing to be able to display their skills later. On both sides of the field, parents lined up in lawn and beach chairs to watch those children show off their abilities.

Flag football is an obvious hit in Chocowinity. The sport caught on with the public high schools in Beaufort County last fall, with Northside winning the Big 12 Conference title. Now, that excitement has extended into Chocowinity, where boys and girls, young and old, tuck in their flags, run with and catch the football and generally have a blast playing one of the fastest-growing sports in the country.

They are part of the Under the Lights flag football program that’s one of 11 across the state. The excitement on display last Saturday was thanks in small part to the long hours and work of people like D.J. Stanley and Clarence Baker. Both have helped launch the program in Chocowinity.

It has sparked a lot of curiosity and interest from children and their families who want to play the sport of football but aren’t quite ready to put on the pads and lay the hits you see in high school, college and pro football.

“We really believe in the league,” Stanley said. “We came together, he found the field. I couldn’t do anything without this man right here.”

“I just thank God that he allows us to come out here and bring these kids up, be around these kids,” Baker said. “I tell coach all the time, I can see them and I know they’re not in trouble.”

Stanley said he coached in a flag football league in Washington two years ago. He decided it was time to seek a new direction and, hopefully, bring the sport to Chocowinity. With help from Mike Young, who is the commissioner of the Chocowinity Under the Lights league, the ball literally got rolling for starting a league.

“We talked about Under The Lights, which we still play now,” Stanley said. “He told me what the program was about and how they set it up. We started that last June and our first year was this past fall.”

The Chocowinity Recreation Department provided a field for flag football to be played, that’s at the same athletic complex where baseball and softball games are held. It was just the right size, not only for play to take place but also for fans to gather and for others to practice and gather while the games happened on the field.

Last Saturday, the Canes took on the Tar Heels in a grade third and fourth wild card game. After that, the Falcons and Gators squared off in the fifth through eighth grade Super Bowl. After that, the Ducks and Canes played in the third and fourth grade Super Bowl.

The Giants are another team that is fielded in Chocowinity. They did not play Saturday but were part of a ring ceremony to recognize their efforts. They will play in the 2025 Spring National Championship Tournament, which will be held July 16-18 at IMG Academy in Florida.

“Well, I took flyers,” Stanley said. “I passed them out to all the schools. We had a big party out here. We had free camps to the general interest, me and Coach Baker. The first season, we had maybe like 80, 90 kids. So it was great.”

With this season coming to a close, the excitement will continue with the Giants’ play in Florida and the fall season. It’s a good indication that the sport is here to stay and will only grow more in Chocowinity.

“Anybody want to help out, you know, this team here, they work hard,” Stanley said. “And a lot of these kids that we coach out here, they come from neighborhoods, or they don’t have a lot of sports outside, or they don’t have the opportunity.

“Me personally, I bring four to five kids myself to practice every day. I pick them up, I drop them off, I feed them, whatever. But that’s what it takes to build a league up, and that’s what we’re willing to do.

If you’d like to help sponsor the team or get more information, you can call Stanley (252-508-2262) or Baker (252-402-4712). You can find out more about the league on its Facebook page and by clicking on the team page at UAFlag.com.

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