Former Churchville-Chili player Fricano back to launch Redhawks flag football program

Four short months ago, Roberts Wesleyan Athletic Director Bob Segave announced that the school would be adding women’s flag football to their roster of teams starting in spring 2026. Twenty days later, Churchville-Chili grad Paul Fricano was introduced as the new head coach.

Fricano played for the Saints under original head coach Paul Dick until 2014, where he helped the team improve from a 2-5 record to 5-2 averaging 37.0 yards per punt with 19 downed inside the 20-yard line and connected on 14-of-22 field goals and 60-of-70 extra points. He was named First Team All-County as a sophomore, junior, and senior and Second Team All-State as a place-kicker in his final high school season.

Then it was on to play at Eastern Michigan University as the starting kicker for the Eagles. He connected on 34 field goals and was nearly perfect hitting 76-of-79 extra point attempts. He helped the team to the Popeye’s Bahamas Bowl in 2016 where he set a pair of Bahamas Bowl records for field goals attempted (2-for-2) and made in the bowl game.

Fricano is listed in the Eastern Michigan record books at No. 7 for career points scored (178) and No. 2 (99) and No. 10 (79) for points in a season. He earned All-MAC honors in 2016.

fter completing an advanced degree at Roberts, he is now tasked with starting up a program from scratch.

“My playing career ended at Eastern Michigan University…was the time of my life and I got to experience football on a really high level,” Fricano said via email. “This experience is what validated me in knowing I wanted to be a coach at high level athletics. I transitioned to RWU for my graduate program where I earned my doctorate in Occupational Therapy.

“During my time in my program here, I also had aspirations to get involved in the athletics department. After many conversations with our athletic director, Bob Segave, the growth rate of flag was undeniable and once the NCAA announced it as an emerging sport, we announced the flag program! It’s now my passion project here.”

The Redhawks will begin play this fall with official games in spring 2026, a quick turnaround.

“Developing a new program from scratch is no small task. I committed my summer to going to as many camps, showcases, bringing athletes in for visits, etc. Any avenue I could possibly take that would lead me to girls who are passionate about continuing to play this game they really love so much. We’ve been fortunate enough to recruit and sign several girls who were All-Greater Rochester and then a mixture of girls from the Buffalo area as well. My motto is that this team will be a Section V/Section VI all-star team. We have plenty of athletes in this area to show that we have something special here with a deep pool of talent. We will have roughly 15 girls signed to play for us this upcoming Spring season.

“The interest level is high and that has been very validating for our program; the student athletes want to be a part of this. I was blown away when I went to Sectional games and saw the stands full and standing room only. How the sport is growing is unlike many things I’ve ever seen. It drives me!”

Kate Rayburn from Greece Athena signed on as the first official recruit after she was named All-Greater Rochester for the second time and was also a First Team All-Monroe County pick this past spring.

“Our season this year will be our first and I’m incredibly excited to see this group of girls grow into a team and a family. Our offseason will consist of educational opportunities to teach offensive and defensive philosophies along with getting playbooks in their hands. Once we get into the season, we will be playing local teams such as Geneseo, Brockport, Villa Maria, D’Youville and Mercyhurst amongst others. It will be a great litmus test to see where our program stands immediately.

“We are also fortunate to have some dual sport athletes who are joining the team from existing teams on campus. For example, we will have two basketball players and a track sprinter joining the team which will help immediately inject talent and athleticism onto the team.

“It’s an exciting time to be a part of this sport and my true end goal is to grow a culture that fits the Roberts mission statement and to give our community and our athletes the opportunity to grow something transformative and something that leads the way in this new and upcoming sport.”