By: Colin Lacy

TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services

The NFL world flocked to Orlando last weekend to watch the game’s best in the 2025 Pro Bowl Games. The “game’s best” applies in a couple of different scenarios.

The obvious is that of Jared Goff, Fred Warner and Bijan Robinson, some of the best in the NFL, but also applies to the names Jaci Kitchings and Jadyn Williams.

Jaci and Jadyn are two seniors that wrapped up their careers at Southeast Bulloch with the school’s fourth consecutive state championship back in December but represented the NFC squad in the first NFL Girls Flag All-Star Game.

The inaugural event put on by the NFL saw thirty high school girls from all over the country (even two from Alaska) which included the two SEB Yellow Jackets competing in a flag football All-Star game to kick off the festivities on Sunday at the 2025 NFL Pro Bowl Games.

The NFL rolled out the red carpet for the Girls Flag Football All-Star Game participants including Kitchings and Williams.

The two Jacket players were flown down to Orlando on Friday before the Sunday afternoon game and not only got gear for the event, but the opportunity to take in some of the local attractions in Orlando and events with the NFL Pro Bowl players.

“They have had the best experience,” said SEB Head Flag Football Coach Marci Cochran. “What a great event by the NFL and I’m super excited they both got to participate.”

Jaci and Jadyn found out that they were named to the thirty-girl roster just before the semifinals of the GHSA state tournament and were ecstatic to get the news but had unfinished business to take care of.

They would find themselves in familiar ground on the stage in Atlanta after an overtime thriller having won their fourth consecutive state championship and capping off an 82-1 record in their SEB careers.

Southeast Bulloch Flag Football burst on the scene in 2021 when the program began (when Kitchings and Williams were freshmen) and have won the state championship each of the first four years of the program’s existence and winning 82 out of 83 games played in program history. The lone loss in program history came this year against the private school sector in Calvary Day out of Savannah.

I got to catch up with SEB Head Coach Marci Cochran as she watched Jadyn and Jaci play in the All-Star game in Orlando and looking back on the last four years she said “After starting four years ago and lost our first game this year which was devastating but in the long run it helped us win another state title.  Four in a row which is more than any other team in the state of Georgia. We’re super excited about the growth of our program and adding a middle school program last year which helped us too.”

Coach Cochran has seen every snap that both Jadyn and Jaci have taken in their flag football careers and have become not only trendsetters on the national level at the Pro Bowl Games but also helped set the fantastic foundation of the SEB program.

“They’re the first seniors that have completed all four years, so they’re very special to us and we hate to be losing them,” Cochran said holding back tears. “Jaci has grown so much. Her development and dedication are awesome. Jadyn was always a really good player, but to watch her learn the game and understand the game is fun and to watch both of them grow from freshmen to seniors is really impressive.”

The NFL has made a concerted effort from the NFL League Office all the way down to the different teams investing in the sport of flag football at all levels, but especially at the high school level.

“For the sport as a whole, the Falcons itself sponsor a team in Alabama and there’s a couple other states that they’re starting to dive into to be able to start flag football there,” said Cochran. “Just the money and support they give for all these schools to be able to provide a flag football program without it having to come out of their own pocket is huge. It’s expensive to start a new sport, so their involvement in flag football has been awesome.”

While Kitchings and Williams will get to do it one more time as SEB heads to Canton, Ohio for the National Flag Football High School Tournament, the experience at the NFL Pro Bowl Games really put a nice bow on a historic career for these two and would have been hard to believe a couple years ago said Coach Cochran.

“To see them get to play down here (in Orlando) and see this opportunity. To be in this stadium, to have the game broadcasted on ESPN even with the Goodyear Blimp.  Who would have ever thought that four years ago? So, it’s really special to be down here with them.”