Brandon Reese was on the sidelines in the spring of 2022 when Lansdale Catholic captured the first-ever Eagles Girls Flag Football League Championship on a cold, rainy day at Lincoln Financial Field.
The head coach for that dominant team was Mike Reimel, Reese's mentor. Reese first met Reimel playing flag football at the Boys and Girls Club. He then worked at tournaments and other events for Reimel as a high school student to earn some pocket money. Reese was a student at Temple University when the Crusaders captured the title.
Following the successful launch of the Eagles Girls Flag Football League, Reimel, a teacher in the Wissahickon School District, was pulled away to start a flag football program at the high school. Looking to expand the game, Reimel obliged. Lansdale Catholic handed the reins over to Reese to build upon the foundation Reimel had set.
"He was very integral to my flag upbringing," said Reese, who was born and raised in the Fern Rock section of Philadelphia before moving outside of the city and graduating from North Penn High School. "I don't think I'd be here without him."
Now in charge of the team, Reese went through a period of acclimation. First, it was being the lead voice for the Crusaders.
"A lot of work. A lot of details to go over. A lot of managing different personalities and different traits and athletic abilities and trying to scheme and make sure people are in the right spot for the betterment of the team," Reese said. "That was a little bit of an adjustment, but after a while, I got the hang of it and then things started to become fun, especially as you're winning. After a while, everything started to click and fall into place."
Second, all of the other teams were coming for the one at the top of the mountain.
"The growth of the game has been absolutely remarkable. Over the last four years, the athletic ability of these girls has risen to an absolutely unremarkable level in such a short amount of time," Reese said. "That first season, we were very dominant. These teams really caught on fast. They started scheming. They started gameplanning, preparing better, and going out there and being able to compete. I had to keep reminding my girls, look, the league is catching up to you. You're not just going to be able to win because you've been playing flag football for so long."
Third, Reese had to build his coaching staff. He was a one-man operation until he brought on Larry Kovacs to be the offensive coordinator in 2024 and Ali Baublitz, a women's flag football player, to oversee strength and conditioning this season.
2025 marked the second year of the Catholic League and the Crusaders marched through the regular season with a 10-1 record to finish in a three-way tie atop the standings with defending Eagles Girls Flag Football League of Pennsylvania Champion Archbishop Wood and Archbishop Ryan. Led by Reese, the Catholic League Coach of the Year and the Eagles Girls Flag Football Coach of the Week, Lansdale Catholic avenged its loss to Ryan in the semifinal to set up a match with Wood for the league title and a trip to the NovaCare Complex to compete for the state crown.
"We wanted to be as prepared as possible because we knew earlier when we played them, it was only a 13-7 game, and it was kind of back and forth. We could never really find our rhythm. We couldn't figure out what they were doing on offense and how to stop them, so we wanted to be as prepared as we could going into the game," Reese said.
On gameday, Reese and the coaches walked the team through an hour of film study before boarding the buses. The plan worked. Lansdale Catholic won its first Catholic League Championship in a convincing 33-18 victory, thanks to quarterback and league MVP Devin VanOsten and fellow first-team All-Catholic League selections Ali Kaltenbacher and Aubrey Mobley.
"For our girls to go out there and just dominate, it was the best game I've ever seen from this group of girls all season," Reese said. "I saw highlight plays that I've never seen before. It was truly remarkable to watch."
The Crusaders overcame a tough Universal Audenried squad, the first-year team that captured the Public League title featuring Shayla Smith, the all-time leading scorer in Philadelphia girls basketball history, by a 24-12 margin to return to the championship game for the first time since the 2022 season.
"They had a tremendous first year. They have a lot of athletes, a lot of ballers on that team. I think they're going to be a force to be reckoned with in the Public League," Reese said. "We had to really work to put them away, so they're not an easy team to beat by any means."
Lansdale Catholic's amazing run, however, did not result in being the first team in Eagles Girls Flag Football League of Pennsylvania history to capture multiple championships. The Monarchs of Gwynedd Mercy Academy pulled out a 14-6 win in the final.
"This season was absolutely remarkable. We've been building ever since that very first season where we won it all," Reese said. "Every year we've tried to get back and we keep getting close, but not close enough. This was the very first year where we were able to get back to that championship game and try to retake what was once ours, but we ran into a really good Gwynedd team and just happened to fall short that day."
Reese was especially gutted for the seniors like VanOsten, who were a part of that undefeated run in 2022.
"She's been the keystone to our entire team. Without Devin, I don't think we have the remarkable season we had," Reese said. "Her ability to read the field, throw just as good as some of the boys out here, really was a game-changer for us and it helped us dominate in certain spots. Then, as far as her leadership, she's been in the game of flag for a long time. She was a huge role model for everyone to look up to and she played right into that leadership role. She kept everyone calm, organized, and kept everyone in the moment when we needed them."
Shortly after the loss to Gwynedd Mercy, Reese posted on his Instagram page about the importance of patience, knowing that the team's time will come. A specialist in the Army National Guard, Reese understands the value of teamwork, discipline, and hard work, while properly placing the importance of the sport in the big picture for the girls.
"I make it more of a family-fun environment than a lot of other sports. Flag football for these girls is supposed to be fun. It's supposed to be enjoyable. You're supposed to go out there and play and try something new, but have fun while doing it," Reese said. "I don't like to be the drill sergeant. Nowadays, in today's landscape, especially in sports, especially for women in youth sports, you got to change the tactics. I feel like a lot of older coaches are not able to adapt very well, a lot of these old coaches are stuck in their ways. That's not really mentally healthy for these girls. I just try to make it as positive of an environment as I can for these girls because at the end of the day they have a lot more going on in their lives than flag football. I tell my girls flag football is an escape, use this as a time to put everything behind you and just focus on what we have going on here."
