MURFREESBORO − Will Hester launched Ravenwood’s girls flag football program four years ago, leading the Raptors to back-to-back Williamson County championships before passing the reigns, and high expectations, to Ricky Rodriguez, then an assistant with Ravenwood football.
Now in his second year at the helm of the flag football program, Rodriguez took that success Hester started, and took it to the next level. Rodriguez and the Raptors won the inaugural TSSAA girls flag football state invitational on Thursday, defeating Stone Memorial 34-14 in the championship game.
Once the celebration subsides, he’ll turn his attention to Ravenwood football’s 2025 season, where Rodriguez will replace Hester after being named the football coach on May 6 following Hester’s resignation to become a Brentwood Middle assistant principal.
“I owe him a lot and he built this program, just like he built our boys program,” Rodriguez said. “And I’m just honored to be able to represent this community with coaches that I love and girls that I love. It’s amazing.”
Rodriguez credits Hester in helping him grow as a coach, emphasizing few aspects of the job are more important than building relationships with players, something he’s carried over to the flag football program.
“What separates (Hester) is his focus on the culture that he builds,” Rodriguez said. “We hold our kids accountable, we want them to play the game the right way. And then the focus on relationships, right? There is no coach, that I’ve ever seen, that is better at reaching young men’s hearts than Will Hester. And if I can take a little bit of that and pour it into our boys and our girls, I think we’re gonna be okay.”
Junior quarterback Caroline Merville joined the team ahead of…
Source link : https://www.tennessean.com/story/sports/high-school/2025/05/08/tssaa-flag-football-championships-ravenwood-ricky-rodriguez/83413741007/
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Publish date : 2025-05-09 01:27:00
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