2026 Shore Sports Insider Girls Flag Football MVP: Camila Chamorro, Barnegat
In hindsight, two momentous decisions were instrumental in Barnegat flag football becoming one of the biggest surprises in the state in its first season as a program.
First, sophomore Camila Chamorro had to decide if she was going to continue to play flag football. She had played on travel teams at the youth level but had taken her freshman year off from the sport.
She was on the fence about ever playing flag football again before she learned that Barnegat was going to field a team for the first time in 2026.
“I honestly thought I wouldn’t play again, but then I found out at the end of last year that we were going to have a team here,” she said after the Shore Conference Tournament final. “So I was like, ‘OK, I can’t not play.’”
Her next decision was to make a change in position. She had only played wide receiver on her travel teams, but Barnegat had a void at quarterback. The Bengals had an army of talented receivers – they just needed someone to get them the ball.
Chamorro stepped up, and not only did she fill a vacancy, she became a star. In her first season, she led the Shore Conference with 3,203 yards passing and 43 touchdown passes with only two interceptions. She also ran for a team-high 586 yards and 3 touchdowns.
More importantly, she led the Bengals to a 12-0 season that included the Shore Conference Tournament title in their first year of existence. It all adds up to Shore Sports Insider Most Valuable Player honors as the Shore Conference’s top player.
She was the engine of an offense that averaged a Shore Conference-leading 33.2 points per game and led the Shore with 399 total points.
“I never even would’ve thought I would be a quarterback,” she said. “But this year I was kind of thrown into it. I wasn’t mad about it.”
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Chamorro also played her best when the stakes were the highest. She exploded for a career-high 497 yards passing and 7 touchdown passes in a win over Central in the SCT semifinals, then threw three touchdown passes and ran for another in a victory over Middletown South in the championship game.
“I think maybe I won’t be a receiver again, and I’ll be happy with it,” she joked after the SCT final.
Barnegat should once again be one of the top teams in New Jersey next spring with Chamorro and a host of other stars returning. The Bengals will also get their chance to win their first state title because 2027 will be the first year of the state playoffs after flag football was approved as an official NJSIAA sport in May.
Scott Stump is the football editor and a reporter for Shore Sports Insider. He first started covering Shore Conference football in 1999 and has covered basketball, baseball and seemingly every other Shore Conference sport at some point.
Email: scottstump25@gmail.com
