Eight Schools Qualify For Inaugural IHSA Girls Flag Football State Finals On October 18-19

The Illinois High School Association (IHSA) will conduct its inaugural Girls Flag Football State Finals, presented by COUNTY Financial, at Willowbrook High School (1250 Ardmore Ave, Villa Park, IL 60181) in Villa Park on Friday and Saturday, October 18-19.

The eight qualifying teams include Bradley-Bourbonnais, Evanston, Fremd, Guilford, Lane Tech, Perspectives Leadership Academy, Whitney Young and Willowbrook. Fans can purchase tickets digitally from GoFan for $10 (Tickets: Friday | Saturday) or purchase cash tickets for $11 at Willowbrook High School on gameday.

All eight games will be streamed live on the NFHS Network, while IHSA Television Network partner, Weigel Broadcasting, will air telecasts of Saturday's semifinal and state championship games live on WCIU (click here for viewer information).

The schedule for the weekend is below:

---FRIDAY, OCTOBER 18---
Quarterfinal 1| 4:30 PM: Fremd vs. Evanston
Quarterfinal 2 | 5:45 PM: Perspectives Leadership vs. Bradley-Bourbonnais
Quarterfinal 3 | 7:00 PM: Willowbrook vs. Whitney Young
Quarterfinal 4 | 8:15 PM: Lane Tech vs. Guilford

---SATURDAY, OCTOBER 19---
Semifinal #1 | 11:00 AM: TBD vs. TBD
Semifinal #2 | 12:30 PM: TBD vs. TBD
Third-Place | 2:00 PM: TBD vs. TBD
Championship | 4:00 PM: TBD vs. TBD

The State Final telecast will include Emma Carpenter, Juliana Zavala, Molly Hennig, Nicole Sedivy, and Kenny McReynolds bringing viewers all the action from the historic event.

The IHSA Board of Directors approved the addition of Girls Flag Football as an official IHSA sport in in February of 2024, as the Chicago Bears hosted an announcement event at Halas Hall in Lake Forest.

Prior to IHSA sanctioning, the Bears hosted a flag football state championship at Halas Hall in 2022 and 2023. The Bears involvement will continue in 2024, starting with a Monsters Flag Football clinic a Willowbrook prior to the quarterfinal games on October 18 from 2:30 PM to 4:00 PM. The free clinic is open to middle school girls interested in learning more about the game. In addition, the Bears will also host a CPR Training event for IHSA student-athletes, coaches, and officials inside the Willowbrook Fieldhouse on October 19 at 9:00 AM. All attendees to Friday's clinic and Saturday's CPR Training event will receive a free ticket to the State Final contests that day.

154 teams participated in the inaugural State Series tournament, as the eight state qualifiers won Regional and Sectional rounds to advance to the State Finals. The IHSA anticipates that the total number of participating teams could increase to beyond 200 by the 2026 State Series.

With the addition of Girls Flag Football, the IHSA will offer a State Series in 40 total sports and activities in 2024-25, in addition to its Wheelchair Basketball Tournament, Unified games via its partnership with Special Olympics, and Athletes with Disabilities divisions in multiple sports. Girls Flag Football joins a growing list of sports and activities that have recently conducted their inaugural IHSA State Series, including Competitive Dance (2013), Boys and Girls Lacrosse (2018), Esports (2022), and Girls Wrestling (2022).

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