Minneapolis Roosevelt players prepare to play Camden as the inaugural high school girls flag football league opens Sunday at Washburn High School in Minneapolis. (Jerry Holt/The Minnesota Star Tribune)

Ana Cecilia Walker dipped and weaved across Minneapolis Washburn’s turf, but the soccer goals — the Roosevelt senior’s usual target — were shoved up against a fence.

Instead, the Minnesota State Moorhead soccer commit barreled toward the end zone of the flag football field.

A receiver, she scored a touchdown, and her celebration involved spinning the football on the turf and shoulder-bumping a teammate so excitedly that she went tumbling to the ground. But Walker, Roosevelt’s Athena Award winner, still couldn’t help but beam around her mouthguard.

“It was fun,” she said after her first flag football game. “It was kind of chaotic at first. We know the rules, but obviously none of us have ever played before.”

On Sunday, all seven Minneapolis public high schools gathered at Washburn for their first spring flag football games as 51 teams began a spring season sponsored by the Minnesota Vikings. The season will culminate with a 12-team tournament at TCO Stadium on June 9.

For more on the flag football league's season kickoff, click here to read this story on startribune.com.