As the Eagles and 49ers went into halftime of their Wild Card matchup at Lincoln Financial Field, Keira Quinn and her Gwynedd Mercy Academy teammates prepared to take the field for a quick flag football game.
The halftime show was a way to bring attention to the rapidly growing sport, but there was another factor at play.
During the game, Eagles Insider Dave Spadaro conducted interviews on the jumbotron with select players. When it was Quinn's turn to take the mic, she got the surprise of a lifetime.
Spadaro, in front of a sold-out crowd, told Quinn that she had won the Maxwell Football Club Girls National Flag Football Player of the Year. Quinn, who was nominated by the Eagles, was dubbed the best girls flag football player in the country.
"It was such a great experience because I had no idea what was going on," Keira said in late January. "They asked to interview me, and I thought it would just be a normal interview. ... But then he said, 'National Maxwell Player of the Year,' and my mind was blown. To share that with my teammates, it was just amazing."
Keira plays quarterback for Gwynedd Mercy under her father, Tim Quinn, who was selected by the Eagles for the 2025 Coach of the Year and nominated for the NFL’s Don Shula High School Coach of the Year. During her high school career, Keira has led the Monarchs to a 30-3-2 overall record, including winning the 2025 Eagles Flag Football League of Pennsylvania Championship.
Quinn has posted 4,622 passing yards with 94 touchdowns and added 1,664 rushing yards and 22 rushing touchdowns. She also has 210 career tackles and 18 sacks, earning USA Football Junior National Team and USA Football Select Bowl All-Tournament selections twice. She recently participated in the NFL Flag Girls High School Showcase at the Pro Bowl Games, which was broadcast on ESPN.
Quinn became just the second winner of the National Player of the Year award, but she's not just an athlete. She has a 3.8 GPA and volunteers as a youth cheer and flag football coach, refereeing local flag football games, while also participating in the school's food drive.
"It was a pretty amazing moment because Keira, being the youngest of five, has really had to kind of step up," Keira's mom, Katie, said. "She's had to step out of her comfort zone. She's had to do things that she probably wouldn't want to do. But she really focuses on community and teamwork and family. She really has stepped up to allow other kids to have the same opportunities that she's had. For her, it's more of a community award than it is just a personal award for her."
The Quinn family are trailblazers in the growth of girls flag football in Pennsylvania. Tim founded Athena Athletics in 2018 as a grassroots girls' flag initiative and grew the program from just eight participants at the start to more than 350.
All of Keira's siblings played or currently play flag football, including her three sisters. Keira's first taste of the game came watching her brother and cousin compete, and when they went to Disney World for an event, she saw it as something she could do as well.
She began playing and looked up to her older sisters, who pushed Keira because of how hard they worked. And then of course there was Tim, who has been influential in her growth and "really helped me get to where I am today."
It has been a true group effort by the entire Quinn family to help propel the game, and Keira's latest achievement is a testimony of the impact she and her family have had on girls flag football.
"It was mind-blowing," Katie said. "I know Keira's been working really hard. She's been playing since she was around 8 or 9 with her three older sisters. She's just been trying to grow the sport. This was nothing that she was even expecting to be a part of. When she was told by the Eagles that she was Player of the Year through the Eagles, she thought, 'Oh, wow, even this is a huge honor.' And then when she got the Player of the Year for the country through Maxwell, that was the cherry on top of the ice cream." — Written by Matt Ryan
