The Buffalo Bills have announced the Week 3 High School Girls Flag Football Coaches of the Week.
Aimed at highlighting varsity girls' flag football coaches' efforts on and off the field, coaches from the Buffalo, Rochester, and Syracuse regions will be honored over seven weeks and receive $1,000 for their teams. Each region's Coach of the Year will be eligible to be selected for the Coach of the Year.
Buffalo Region (Section VI) Coach of the Week
Grand Island head coach Henry Carney was named the Buffalo region Coach of the Week for the week ending Sunday, April 26. He began coaching at Grand Island in 1995 and, during that time, has coached wrestling, boys modified football and girls flag football for the last three years. Under his direction, the Vikings were division champions in 2024 and have reached the Section VI playoffs every year.
"It's exciting to see how locked in several of the young ladies on the team are," said Carney. "They enjoy playing for each other and having fun."
Grand Island is 4-3 in 2026, including wins last week over Frontier, 19-0, and Williamsville South, 13-6.
Rochester Region (Section V) Coach of the Week
Hilton head coach David Marean was named the Rochester region Coach of the Week for the week ending Sunday, April 26. Entering his 22nd season as the head boys varsity football coach at Wayne High School, he is in his third season as the girls flag football coach at Hilton, where he's compiled a 14-12-2 record. Hilton won its first sectional game in school history and advanced to the Section V Class A Sectional Finals in 2026.
Marean's work growing the game of girls flag football goes beyond his work at Hilton as he is the founder of NYS Elite Athletics, which is in its third year of running girls flag football coaching clinics, camps, showcases and college fairs.
"Sports have been a huge part of my life, and teaching and coaching for more than 30 years has been my way of always trying to give back," said Marean. "Using the tools of sports—in this case, flag football—helps develop young ladies to become successful members of society. Our girls help run youth camps in the summer and are wonderful mentors to our youth."
With a 5-1-1 record, Hilton currently maintains the top seed in Section V Class A in the sectional standings and notched wins last week over Victor, 18-7, and Greece Arcadia, 20-13.
Hilton has raced to a 10-0 start this season, already setting the program record for victories in a single season. Last week, the squad earned hard-fought victories over Cicero-North Syracuse, 19-14, and Fayetteville-Manlius, 7-0.
Syracuse Region (Section III) Coach of the Week
Oneida head coach Tom Rose was named the Syracuse region Coach of the Week for the week ending Sunday, April 26. After serving as the varsity girls flag football head coach at Norwich in 2022, Rose took over the Oneida program in 2024 and guided the Express to a Section III Division 2 championship in 2024 and a Class C sectional title last season. Rose has also served as a varsity baseball head coach and a varsity football assistant coach at the high school level.
"The most impactful thing for me with coaching flag football is the relationships I'm able to build with my players," said Rose. "They come to flag football with very little knowledge of the game, so it is a lot of teaching and learning for everyone. The skill set they acquire over the duration of our season is unbelievable, and it truly shows that hard work does pay off."
The Oneida program has been recognized as a NYSPHSAA team scholar-athlete award recipient in both 2024 and 2025.
2026 COTW
Week 1: Chris Edwards (Pioneer), Eric Thurley (Webster Thomas), Brad Keysor (ESM)
Week 2: Nick Bertrando (Fredonia), Mike Wilkinson (Hornell), Jeff Petties (Syracuse East)
