In the thick of the state series, the Oak Park and River Forest flag football team is flying. The Huskies dispatched Chicago Jones College Prep 39-7, Monday, in an IHSA sectional semifinal at Rockne Stadium, advancing to Tuesday’s sectional final against Chicago Whitney Young at 7 p.m. at Rockne.
But to get an accurate feel for how well the second-seeded Huskies have done this season, you have to look up. Literally. At the team’s practices, there is a four-propeller drone buzzing high above the field, recording everything below, piloted by head coach Jim Geovanes.
Is it a little weird to see herself darting around from high above? For senior slot receiver Leia Hammerschmidt, not really.
“I think playing under a drone gives you more responsibility,” she said. “I feel like a lot of sports do this.”
From a tech standpoint it’s pretty cool, said Geovanes, whose team is 14-8 overall and finished 3-3 in the tough West Suburban Silver.
“I’m kind of the CEO of the program,” he said. “The offensive coordinator and defensive coordinator and coaches are second to none. I have time to move around and check everybody. We’ll run a script of plays and look from a bird’s eye view where our openings are on offense.”
What’s more, the video is uploaded to Google Classroom, so players and coaches can watch anytime. Pretty nifty, according to senior middle linebacker Elianna Brucato.
“It’s hard to pick out everything because it’s high up,” she said, “but it’s kind of nice to see what we do better. Defense is about angles. When someone is running a bad angle, you can see how to improve.”
But for all the spatial advantages the drone provides, you still have to make plays on the field. That’s easier when, statistically, you have a top-five quarterback in state in senior Julia Henderson, who has played flag football since sophomore year and also plays softball.
What has been the key to the Huskies’ success this season?
“I guess just how well we work together,” said Henderson, who threw five touchdown passes against Jones College Prep. “We have great team chemistry and are all on the same page.”
Hear, hear, said Hammerschmidt.
“I have a good quarterback and we have a good connection, and running as hard as you can in practice and in the game helps,” she said.
Likewise on defense, according to Brucato.
“On defense you have to communicate and be loud,” she said, “making sure everyone is in the right headspace, to be focused and encourage each other.”
Lee, Scholtens propel Fenwick offense:
Though Fenwick’s season ended with a tough 27-24 regional semifinal loss to Morton, the campaign was deemed a success by first-year head coach Bryan Boehm.
The Friars went 10-8 overall and 5-5 in the Girls Catholic Athletic Conference under Boehm, who was a co-head coach in 2024. The tone for the season was set early with a 26-0 win on the road at York.
“Being Fenwick, we go into Elmhurst, starting off the season and beating York, that propelled a lot of people and set the stage for an exciting season,” Boehm said. “It was nice that our girls didn’t stop, that they wanted to keep going with, ‘Let’s run this, let’s run that.’”
Senior running back Heaven Lee was the catalyst on offense, along with senior receiver Elissa Scholtens.
“A lot of the offense ran through her because it was short yardage, a give toss, a swing pass,” Boehm said of Lee. “Heaven was that emergency pair of golden shoes. If we couldn’t stop the rush, she was there and made something of it.”
As for the 6-foot-1 Scholtens, Boehm said her M.O. was, “Throw the ball in my direction and I’ll get the ball.”
Defensively, Fenwick was led by senior linebacker Stephanie Gonzalez, who also was the team’s punter and logged an 80-yard boot vs. Glenbrook North. Junior Daija Barnes was fast on blitzes and “disrupted many offenses we faced,” Boehm said.
Trinity’s encouraging first season:
It was Trinity’s first year as a program, and the Blazers made solid progress behind a host of freshmen and sophomores, going 2-12 overall and winning their regional quarterfinal game 32-6 over Chicago Juarez.
Freshman quarterback Peyton Haynes threw eight touchdowns, primarily to fellow freshman receiver Ijeoma Conley. Sophomore Hayden Smith did well on both sides of the ball as a receiver and linebacker.
“I was very pleased with how the girls did,” coach Jim Moy said. “Many of them never played flag football before.”