SLIPPERY ROCK — For 15 years, NFL Flag Football has flourished in the Youngstown area.

The youth league for ages 3 to 13 — part of the only national flag football circuit supported and sanctioned by the NFL — began with 80 players. It had more than 800 players last year, roughly 400 for its spring season and 600 for its fall campaign.

“It just grew and grew,” league director and founder Elliott Giles said. “Sometimes the membership doubled one year to the next, even tripled.”

Now an NFL Flag Football league franchise is coming to Slippery Rock.

The Western Pennsylvania Flag Football Association will make its debut in late May. Games will be played at Slippery Rock University’s Mihalik-Thompson Stadium and surrounding facilities.

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