What did Elianna Brucato know about American gridiron football when she arrived in Oak Park in 2017 after moving here from Bologna, in Italy?
Nothing. Nada. Or in Italian, niente.
She had been a rhythmic gymnast in the old country, and a good one at that, even participating at the national level one year, according to her mom, Ruthi.
Here, the only rhythmic gymnastics organization at her level was an hour away. But she loved sports, and so she tried cross country and track, volleyball and basketball, which became her new love, until her sophomore year at Oak Park and River Forest High School, where she was introduced to a new IHSA sport, flag football.
“End of freshman year, Julia Henderson was in in my PE class,” Brucato said of her OPRF quarterback teammate. “Julia heard about it, she was like, ‘Eli, do you want to do it for fun in the fall? It’s just going to be fun?’ You know what? Yeah. We’d start practicing.”
She practiced and practiced and eventually found herself on the defensive side of the ball as a middle linebacker. And on Thursday night, all that hard work paid off when she was honored at Halas Hall in Lake Forest by the Chicago Bears with the Inspire Change Changemaker Scholarship.
That $5,000 will come in handy as she heads off to Illinois Wesleyan in the fall to study nursing … and play flag football.
“It was honestly surreal,” Brucato said of Thursday’s event, which honored her and two other area players. “I was thinking of my younger self, going to gymnastics practice. I’ve come such a long way. It’s cool to see yourself put in all the effort and care so much about something.”
What was really special was the fact that she had in attendance family, teammates, coaches and even OPRF athletic director Nicole Ebsen and principal Lynda Parker. Her future coach, Illinois Wesleyan’s Melissa Valenzuela, also made the long trip from Bloomington – on her birthday.
“This is a pivotal moment for female sports in Illinois and to have one of our own recognized speaks volumes to our commitment as a school and community to female sports,” Ebsen said. “We are so proud of Elianna and cannot wait to see the great things she will do.”
Brucato, who along with Henderson and an OPRF wrecking crew that went 13-9 and lost in a sectional final last fall, isn’t only about football. For one, she’s an ace student who also still plays basketball. And every weekend, you’ll find her at Calvary Memorial Church in Oak Park, helping with Sunday school and participating in youth group in the evening. She also volunteers to help with kids at that church’s summer camp.
“Those kids consider her a hero,” said her coach, Jim Geovanes, who nominated her for the scholarship award. “She doesn’t have to do that, but her motor never stops running.”
Brucato also helped start Flag Football Families at OPRF, where every senior and junior bands together to help freshmen and sophomores not only learn about the program, but acclimate them to the ins and outs of their new school.
Those are all great things, of course, but consider she’s a tough customer on the field, according to Geovanes. She was OPRF’s defensive player of the year and led the Huskies with 84 tackles. She had two interceptions – one for a touchdown – and two quarterback sacks.
But all good things must come to an end. Her mom remembers that sectional final, a hard-fought loss to Chicago Whitney Young, the eventual state runner-up.
“I could see her on the field, the last minute or two, and she was crying because she was so sad it was over,” Ruthi Brucato said.
But while the end stung, her next step as student-athlete at Illinois Wesleyan is bound to be just as special.
“Half of their student body is athletes, so they are dedicated to both school and athletics, but they always put school first,” she said. “I will never have to put my athletic career before my education.”
She also has parting words for girls who are OPRF newcomers and middle schoolers about flag football.
“Playing flag football gives you so much confidence,” she said. “This is a sport centered around female athletes. It’s something you can build upon.
“It’s also been a good outlet where I can focus on the sport that I am playing and take all the baggage I have and put it on the field.”
