With a passion to match their male counterparts on the gridiron, two inaugural girl’s flag football games kicked off on October 18th, with Naperville North hosting Metea Valley and DeKalb, while Naperville Central played its first game on Saturday, October 19th. This story is sponsored by Fair Oaks Ford and Fair Oaks Lincoln.
“Me and my dad would play catch when we were younger and I just really like throwing the ball, so I always watch football and I like throwing,” said Naperville Central girls flag football player Lyla Hope.
On October 19th, 2024, girl’s flag football wrapped up its inaugural IHSA season with Fremd defeating Rockford Guilford for the state championship. Over 150 teams participated as members in the first year as an official sport in Illinois.
DuPage Valley Conference experiment
The DuPage Valley Conference schools, including three of our local schools, did not compete in the IHSA season this year. The Naperville area schools did not have the numbers or infrastructure to jump into full competition this year; instead, they used this fall to build foundations for future programs.
“This is a passion project for many people that started with discussions in the spring and came to life later in July or early August. So, to see where we started from that very first scrimmage on a Sunday afternoon in September, to see the game happening is a lot of fun,” said Naperville Central Athletic Director Jeff Plackett.
“It’s amazing to see how people are finally saying that girls can do it too and that more people are coming out to see us. More people are getting to know about girls flag football,” said Naperville Central girls flag football player Emilia Green.
Lots of preparation for first game
Each team from our area spent one day a week at practice until their first and only game of the season in October.
“I didn’t think it was not much of a popular sport for Illinois or anyone. I didn’t think many people would try out, so I was scared when I signed up. I didn’t think anyone would come, but when I saw a big group of people, I realized, like, that’s a fun thing. And like, that’s going to grow in the future,” said Naperville Central girls flag football player Ella Nuretta.
Before getting approval from the IHSA, girls’ flag football saw a growth of interest from Chicago Public Schools and many others in the surrounding Chicagoland area, including Willowbrook High School, which hosted the first state championship series. There should be a good amount of local competition going forward, as schools like Bolingbrook, West Aurora, St. Francis, and Yorkville were able to field full teams this fall.
“We knew that this is what we were going to do. I think some of the other DVC schools got wind of how we were doing it, it would be easy, and if you had a couple of adults invested in helping the kids out with this first experience. That’s where we got Metea and DeKalb to join us,” said Plackett.
Area Schools hopeful to compete in the IHSA
With the historic first games in the books, the DVC teams hope to have their flag football programs join the IHSA as the game continues to grow.
“I’m excited to see this thing grow. You don’t start with 150 schools demonstrating that this can be good and think it will not explode in the next few years,” said Plackett.
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