In the first official season of flag football being IHSA-sanctioned, both Oak Park-River Forest and Fenwick High Schools had modestly successful seasons that came to an end last week.
OPRF
In a regional it hosted, OPRF (7-11) defeated Westinghouse 20-12 in the semifinals, Oct. 8. However, the Huskies were edged out by Lane Tech in the final, 12-6, on Oct. 10.
“Our blueprint from the start was to put together a good schedule,” said OPRF coach James Geovanes. “We wanted to play the best of the best all season just to measure where we were at. We hung with every team but one in all our games. That loss to Lane still hurts, but I need to find solace in knowing that we hung with the best of the best all year long.”
Geovanes said he is optimistic OPRF can continue to get better in the coming years, especially with the amount of returning players he’ll have for 2025. The Huskies will lose just six players to graduation.
“We’re not losing a lot of seniors. All our talent is underclassmen, and we’re going to keep looking in our hallways for athletes who don’t have a home in the fall,” Geovanes said. “The coaches and I think we’re just a handful of really good athletes away from taking a really big step next year. With a full summer and a year under our belt, next year is going to be really special. The future is really bright.”
FENWICK
In the Crane Medical Prep regional semifinals, Oct. 10, Fenwick (6-8) edged past North Grand 14-8. But in the regional final Oct. 12, hosting team Cougars rolled past the Friars 60-8 to advance to the Lane Tech sectional.
“It’s a very tough way to end,” said Fenwick co-head coach Lenae Fergerson. “But I don’t think the score reflected the strength of our team. [Crane] was the two-seed for a reason, and at the end of the day, we didn’t play our best brand of football. I think it was a great learning experience for us, and I’m very optimistic about what we have coming back and having a full season under our belts to know what we have to do to compete more in the playoffs.”
Overall, Fergerson said she was pleased with how Fenwick’s first flag football season went.
“We brought a bunch of girls together who had never played the sport,” she said. “We’ve only been together since August, and they’ve improved every game. We saw the amount of fun they were having, and by the end, they were understanding of what they needed to do. We’re definitely looking forward to building off this. We’re graduating eight seniors, but we had a lot of freshmen on the junior varsity, and I think we’ll be just as strong next year.”
Fergerson is also optimistic about flag football continuing its rapid growth around the area.
“I heard that Trinity is trying to compete next year as more than a club,” she said. “It’s an exciting time. The girls were obviously upset about [the Crane loss], but they walked away with their heads held up high. I don’t think anyone thought we’d get past the first [playoff] game, so the sky’s the limit for the program.”