WASHINGTON — If you’ve never watched a premier women’s tackle football game before, this is a great weekend to give it a look.
The D.C. Divas host the Boston Renegades in the Women’s Football Alliance (WFA) Eastern Conference Championship game Saturday.
It starts at 5 p.m. at Oxon Hill High School.
The Divas have been playing since 2001, and top their league in many ways including overall wins, playoff appearances and division championships.
Quarterback Allyson Hamlin, who is a homicide detective with Prince George’s County Police Department, said she understands if football fans question whether a women’s game is worthy of their time.
“I get being skeptical, and that’s fair. But I just challenge you to come look for yourself,” she said.
“I’ve never met anyone that’s come out and not been blown away. We’re playing the game at a very high level, so if you’re truly a fan of the sport, I think you’d enjoy it,” Hamlin said.
A win on Saturday would land the Divas back-to-back Eastern Conference titles for the first time in team history and send them to the national championship game July 23 in Pittsburgh.
If they win there, the Divas would become the first WFA team ever to win back-to-back championships.
The Renegades are considered the Divas’ rivals.
“We’ve played them quite a bit, but they had an injury with their quarterback, so they’ve had to change to their offense,” said head coach Alison Fischer.
Even with a key player out of the lineup, the Divas expect a challenge.
“It’ll be a really good game, very exciting game, two really good teams. The level of competition is superb,” said safety Safi Mojidi.
When she’s not on the field, Mojidi is an IT security manager.
“Football for me is like a huge stress reliever … coming from working a 10, 11-hour day,” she said.
Trigger McNair is a middle linebacker, a team captain and a correctional officer.
“I think at the end of the day, since we’re not getting paid to do this, we put so much more effort into this than the guys do. The guys — it’s a job for them. This is our lives,” she said.
