When the Colorado High School Activities Association sanctioned girls flag football two years ago and consequently the program was started at Mountain View, it didn’t just give local athletes another chance to compete for championships.
It also provided many with opportunities after high school.
With the rise in popularity of flag football across the country at the high school and college levels, girls now have the chance to pursue the sport once their prep careers end.
Thompson Valley senior Jesika Hopkins, who was part of the Mountain Lions’ state championship team in 2024 and state runner-up team last fall, is one of those athletes.
She has committed to play collegiately at Hastings College in Nebraska and will become the first alum of the Mountain View program to compete in the sport at the next level.
“Hastings reached out to me a couple of months ago or so and they were talking to me and everything, and then I got another scholarship that covers all tuition and everything,” Hopkins said. “They wanted me to be on their flag football team, so I committed.”
Hopkins was a first-team all-state selection for Mountain View after catching 83 passes for 1,131 yards and 16 touchdowns while rushing for another 498 yards and four touchdowns. On defense, she made 53 tackles and led the Mountain Lions with 15 interceptions.
She led Mountain View to the Class 4A state championship game for the second time in as many seasons.
Mountain View head coach Tim Test believes she has what it takes to make an impact in college just as she did in high school.
“What you are getting in this amazing athlete is the ideal athlete, teammate, student and leader,” Test said. “Jes has meant so much to our program at Mountain View flag football over our two years of existence, whether being a piece of a powerful inaugural team that took us all the way to a state championship, or as a captain in year two with a very young team that still made it back to the title game.
“I know she will be a perfect building block for your team, making them competitive from day one while having a ton of fun along the way. Jes is an inspiration, and I cannot wait to come see her and her new team at a future Broncos women’s flag football game.”
And just like she was part of the inaugural Mountain View program, she will be in a similar situation at Hastings. The Broncos are just beginning their program, and Hopkins is the first addition to the team.
She played the part of a trailblazer once and she is looking forward to doing it again.
“It’s very exciting because you get to build that up,” she said. “You get to be the one that sets the example, shows everyone how to do it and just be the lead prime example for everyone here in my hometown and show them that everything is possible as long as you work hard. It’s just exciting.”
The addition of the program at Hastings is part of a growing trend nationwide. Whether they are club programs or sanctioned teams, more than 200 colleges currently have flag football at the Division I, II, III, NAIA or NJCAA levels with many more planning to add the sport soon, according to womenscollegeflagfootball.com.
Hopkins said she was sold almost immediately on Hastings when she visited the Nebraska school.
“I liked how they were wanting to take the chance,” she said. “They were wanting to build their program up, build the community up and they just need people to go there and help with that. They were a great school, great people there, fun and they needed people. And I was willing to help them build up their program.”
A three-sport athlete, Hopkins led the Thompson Valley basketball team Wednesday night in a Class 5A Sweet 16 game against Air Academy. Once basketball season is over, she will join the Eagles’ soccer team to close out her senior year and high school athletic career.
Looking back before the Mountain View program was started, she said she never would have thought flag football would be the sport she continued to play in college.
“I always thought it would be basketball, and I never even knew flag football was going to become a sport,” she said. “Now that it is, it’s just fun getting to build that into yourself and then always going for something new, always striving for something that now everyone does. It feels like a fresh start.”
A list of all our local signers this school year can be found here.
