In the final 30 seconds of the 2024 New England Patriots Girls Flag Football Championship, head coach Terrell Patterson had two timeouts left to use to help his St. Mary's High School squad go the entire length of the field to score.
The first pass his quarterback threw fell incomplete, and in his head, he began rehearsing what he would say to his team. Thanks to his daughter Kaileigh's heroics, however, that consolation speech wouldn't be necessary.
"I started preparing myself to give this speech about how far we made it, and for the girls not to hang their heads because we'll come back stronger next year," Terrell told Patriots.com during an interview Thursday.
"I'm preparing for how we're going to handle this loss, and called the last play, and Kaileigh made a heck of a catch with just eight seconds remaining. It was one of those dream come true situations. To make a game-winning (one-handed) catch to secure a high school state championship – it's usually the juniors and seniors. Kaileigh did that in sixth grade. Even talking about it now gives you goosebumps and takes you back to that moment because it was that special."
For the father-daughter duo, this was just one of many great experiences that flag football has afforded them the last decade. The latest is a trip to Minnesota this weekend, as the seventh grader was selected for the 15U USA Junior National Team.
At just 12 years old, the Nahant, Mass., native is the youngest on a roster capped at 18 girls. Rather than being intimidated, though, she uses it to her advantage.
Just like she always has.
"It makes me want to work even harder and prove to everyone that my age doesn't matter and hopefully I'm good enough," Kaileigh said.
That mentality has served Kaileigh well since she started playing flag football as a young child.
Her father, a former college football player, coached tackle at various levels. When his young daughter began showing promise as an athlete involved in gymnastics and soccer, he started pursuing the emerging sport of flag football in hopes she would want to get involved.
"I really loved it and it was something we were able to bond over," Terrell said. "She really stuck with it and it's been her favorite sport since."
Terrell first realized Kaileigh's athletic potential when she was about three years old. At her first gymnastics classes, he noticed she had great balance and could jump higher and run faster than other kids her age.
Eventually, with her playing on his co-ed flag football team as a seven-year-old, others began to take notice too.
"There was a moment when she was about seven years old," Terrell said of Kaileigh.
"We were playing in a recreation league and the president of New England Flag Football, Austin Bradshaw, who has been very dear to us and opened a lot of doors for Kaileigh, was really motivated by what he saw in her. She was only seven and he told me he was short a player in the 12-and-under division. I said, well, Kaileigh is seven and it's co-ed. He told me not to worry and promised to keep her safe. So she's playing and running around and I see her holding her own. It was super competitive and they were fifth and sixth grade boys. She actually did really well. At that moment I was like, yeah. Wherever this sport evolves, we're going to go right along with it."
That evolution has brought them all over the country, from North Carolina to New Jersey to the field at Gillette Stadium.
Her high school, St. Mary's in Lynn, allows middle schoolers to play varsity sports if they make the team, and she's lettered in both soccer and track in addition to playing on the girls flag football team.
"She's had a lot of experiences playing in older age groups, especially with the experiences in the high school league, so despite her maybe being a little bit smaller in stature and younger in age, she has a really high football IQ," Terrell said.
"She's the daughter of a football coach and has been around the game a lot. That's been able to really help her on the field playing against some of these older girls. As the sport continues to evolve it's just opening up more doors and allowing these girls who love football to really own the sport and be a part of it."
Kaileigh's highlights have gotten her on ESPN's SportsCenter Top 10 plays and her tape has been broken down by the likes of Brian Baldinger.
Her Instagram page has amassed more than 39 thousand followers, and as her own platform continues to grow, she hopes the sport does too so that more college athletic departments start offering Division I girls flag football.
"Kaileigh is a really good athlete, and her Instagram gets really popular because of her highlights," Terrell said. "But the most important and gratifying part of it to me as a parent is that it's an opportunity for the country, and really the world, to see how good a young woman can be at the sport of football, how good these young girls really are. It's a fast-paced, alternate version to tackle, but you watch women play and play well. The girls are very skillful, so I really appreciate Kaileigh showing her talent – not for the individual accolades or notoriety, but more so for the exposure to the world. I look at it as her being kind of a mini ambassador for the growth of the sport."
Kaileigh certainly feels that responsibility to the sport that's already given her so much, and her work ethic matches that behind the scenes.
Balancing school and her other sports, she trains daily – whether it's on the field, in the weight room, or with specialized trainers to hone her skills as a wide receiver and cornerback.
Her father doesn't typically recommend hiring trainers for youth athletes, but for his daughter, it's well worth the investment. Terrell sees her attention to detail and how the coaching has elevated her game.
"Just to watch her kind of compete at a high level against other high school kids at such a young age is super impressive," Terrell said.
"It's also heartwarming, right? She's my daughter, so as much as you put this mask on as a coach to give an equitable experience for all players, it's touching when your kid is one of the best in the state at such a young age. It's been cool, but I think we take a good, humbling approach to it where we're all about her being the best version of herself and continuously trying to improve."
That June evening at Gillette Stadium in 2024 was special — but likely just the beginning
"It was awesome," Kaileigh said of her state-championship winning catch. "It was a great opportunity and experience. That will always be one of my best memories."
Her father could say the same.
"To be on that field, with all that history, and all the Hall of Fame players who have shared that field, was really something," Terrell said.
"We're forever grateful to the Patriots for their advocacy, sponsorship and support for the sport here in Massachusetts. It was a great experience for all the teams who got to play at Gillette."
Since then, Kaileigh has traveled to New Jersey to partake in the USA Football Talent ID Camp, where she was named MVP for the Northeast. That earned her a trip to North Carolina for the 15U Girls Junior National Team trials against 40 top athletes from across the country.
After being in Minnesota this weekend, she hopes to make the active 12 roster for the 15U Girls Junior National Team, but her high aspirations don't stop there.
"I want to play in college," Kaileigh said. "I want to try and go D1 for flag football and then make the women's national team for the Olympics."
