First season of girls flag football proves popular at Belleville high schools

Belleville East and West high schools wrapped up their inaugural regular season of girls flag football this week.

In the regular season finale, East squeezed out a nail-biting 13-12 overtime win at West on Wednesday night.

"Once I started running, I was just all smiles and everything," said East junior receiver Ary Kohler, who scored the winning 1-point conversion to walk off the victory for the Lancers. "We did it. We won. We got that by one point. It's crazy."

The win puts East's record at 10-3, and the loss drops West to 2-6. But both teams are headed to the playoffs, which start next week.

While it's been a whirlwind eight weeks for both teams, the players, coaches and parents are hoping the first history-making season catches on in the area — and more schools in the Metro East add programs in the next couple of years.

"To see these young ladies be a part of history — grabbing one flag at a time — has been super," said Mario Melvin, West's head coach. "We just hope that other schools in the area, conference and in the district come aboard."

Both Belleville schools spent an immense amount of time traveling this year because they are the only two teams in the area. Nearly 96% of the schools that have entered the postseason tournament are in northern Illinois — mostly in and around Chicago.

The Belleville West Maroons got started a little later than East, getting word the school would field a team a couple of weeks before the first game. West opened its season with a 29-8 loss at East.

Of course, while the West coaches hoped to win the rematch, they said they were proud their team ended their season putting up a fight.

"All of our girls were new to the game, so we were learning as we were going together," said Karen Chism, West's defensive coordinator. "We've come a long way."

West senior Lily Capell, a captain and center for the 7-on-7 team, said she's bummed she didn't get to play sooner. Capell grew up playing with her family, and she was ecstatic when she learned West would have a team.

"It's amazing that the girls have this — not exactly the same opportunity as the boys — but so close," Capell said. "Boys get treated differently than girls. They have more advantages, I think, than us. I'm so glad, just being a girl, I can play football."

DeNylah Franklin, a fellow West captain and linebacker, said she never played a sport before. However, she'd always been curious about football, and the option to play flag pulled her out of comfort zone.

"They say that we are making history, and we definitely are," Franklin said.

East captain and senior quarterback Annyca Wilson, who grew up playing football with her dad, said this season has been an amazing opportunity. Previously, she ran cross-country in the fall.

"I love it, especially since it's new, and it's up and coming," Wilson said. "I kind of walk around with my head held high because we're playing flag football for the first time."

East head coach Doug Zerjal, who's splitting time with the boys football team as an assistant, said he's looking forward to growing the sport in the next few seasons. He hopes East can start having summer camps for elementary school girls, for example.

For him, girls flag football is just the natural progression for the sport.

"It's a huge deal," Zerjal said. "In the moment, they probably don't realize what trend setters they all are, but I think we'll look back and go, 'Do you remember when flag football got started?' Because I do think in three, four or five years it will become a part of the fall like everything else is."