Oak Park and River Forest High School has had a girl’s flag football team for the past two years. This fall, it has become an official Illinois High School Association (IHSA) sport.
Varsity Head Coach Jim Geovanes reflected on the growth of flag football from an incredibly popular intramural to IHSA recognition, calling it “surreal” that “a phone call in February of 2022 as just an idea” led to statewide recognition.
On this phone call, Geovanes was talking to representatives from the Chicago Bears, Gustavo Silva, from Chicago Public Schools, Juliana Zavala, and from Rockford Park District, Lamont Jones. The three representatives had created the first girl’s league in 2020, they looked to expand to the suburbs, and chose Geovanes to help with the expansion of the league.
On this phone call, Geovanes spoke to Chicago Bears representative Gustavo Silva, Chicago Public Schools representative Juliana Zavala and Rockford Park District representative Lamont Jones. The three created the first girl’s league in 2020 and hoped to expand to the suburbs. They chose Geovanes to help with the expansion of the league.
Those dreams have now become reality. The Huskies are in the middle of their first IHSA season. The enthusiasm for flag football was evident in the Sept. 7 game against Morton High School. The team took the field as parents, peers, coaches and teammates cheered. The Huskies soundly defeated the Mustangs, with a score of 48-0. At press time, the team’s record was 1-4, according to MaxPreps.
Fayith Anderson, a senior who has been on the team since her freshman year, said, “We’re pretty grounded in the sport. We don’t just play, [it’s] our sportsmanship, and the team is together on all levels.”
Players like Anderson had the pleasure of being coached by Jean “Tank” Corner, who died unexpectedly of pneumonia in March of 2023. Geovanes and Corner were extremely close in the planning during the intramural days of flag football. “A part of Coach Tank’s legacy is embedded in our team culture,” he said.
There are numerous rule changes compared to tackle football such as first down distance, the elimination of kickoffs and two 2-minute halves where the clock runs at all times until the last minute where tackle football timing rules apply. Since, the National Federation of High School State Associations (NFHS) has yet to publish a rule book for the sport, the IHSA has to make its rule book for the inaugural season. With the growing popularity throughout the country, the NFHS will publish the official rules for the 2025 season.
Athletic Director of OPRF Nicole Ebsen said, “We’re seeing a lot of our spring sport athletes that now have this home in the fall that they didn’t have in the years past.”
“A lot of people have been following [flag football] before it even came over” to become an IHSA-sanctioned sport, Ebsen said. Flag football has been a major part of OPRF intramural sports, one of the most popular among both boys and girls. Boys’ flag football is still intramural only.
OPRF will host the regional part of the IHSA state series on Oct. 8 and 10. Ebsen says that it’s a massive opportunity to “showcase our kids and our talents, and how much we put into our program.”
There are 175 teams across the state of Illinois looking for the state championship, which will be competed for the first time on Oct. 19 at Willowbrook High School–and the Huskies are hungry for it.
