Among the newest schools in the Metro Atlanta area, Seckinger flag football hasn’t used its inexperience as an excuse. In fact, the Jaguars are setting the standard in Gwinnett County.

Seckinger opened in August 2022, marking this team’s senior class as the first in program history. Under head coach Lauri Springer, the 12-1 Jaguars are not only asserting themselves as contenders in the county, but also in the state.

“We have eight seniors and the experience they bring is invaluable,” Springer said. “This is year four for our school, so these seniors have been playing together since they were freshmen. That makes a huge difference. We also have some new athletes, some track girls, and we just have a lot of speed all around the field.”

Entering Thursday’s home slate against Gainesville and Monroe Area, Springer’s group has won eight straight – seven coming by double figures. The addition of Central Gwinnett transfer Nalani Gainey greatly improved Seckinger’s preseason stock, as last year’s Gwinnett County Offensive Player of the Year has thrown for 19 touchdowns and rushed for nine more for a Jaguars unit averaging more than 28 points per game across the winning streak.

“Probably most importantly, we added Gainey as she moved into our district,” Springer said. “I’m not exaggerating when I say she’s the best player in the state. She is elite on both sides of the ball. She plays QB for us and plays linebacker, so she does it all. She’s picking the ball off on defense just to give it back to herself on offense. We’ve got a lot of great athletes around her, but she’s the one that deals it out to all of them. She gets everything rolling.”

To Springer’s point, Gainey paces the Seckinger defense with 46 tackles and nine interceptions. Around the senior standout, junior Peyton Fountain leads the offense with 408 receiving yards and eight touchdowns, while Brooklyn Miller has hauled in 290 yards and seven scores.

“Brooklyn is our go-to sure-handed receiver,” Springer said. “She’s just super reliable. If you get the ball to her, she’s bringing it in. Peyton is our big-play threat. Our 30-, 40-yard pass plays down the field, they’re going to her. She has great, great hands. She gets open and she brings the ball in. They’re both elite receivers on offense that we are able to dish the ball to.”

Still acclimating to high-level competition, the Jaguars went 19-27-1 across the program’s first three seasons before piecing together an excellent beginning to the 2025 campaign. Seckinger’s improved trajectory is a sign that the team is no longer the fresh face in Gwinnett County.

“Year one and year two, we kind of had to embrace the underdog mentality,” Springer said. “We were new. We were playing a varsity schedule with mostly freshmen and sophomores and we were playing against juniors and seniors who were together for three and four years. That chemistry was difficult in the beginning, but they started to believe around midseason last year. Now it’s ‘This is who we are. This is what we do. This is our team, these are our girls.’ So we don’t have any excuses anymore.”

The red-hot Jaguars have six regular games remaining before looking to make their first deep state playoff run in December.