Girls Flag Football began a couple of years ago at Taft High School. They’ve played and won against schools such as Northside and Whitney Young. On Aug. 30, Marilyn Nunez was selected as Taft’s Player of the Game. The season this year begins on Sep. 28 and playoffs begin on Oct. 7.
The girls played on Soldier Field with 75% of the seats filled, according to their coach, Germaine Padilla. They were given a $1,500 check from the Chicago Bears team. The team also won the Nike XI On tournament. This year, they had six weeks of camp during the summertime. During summer camp they practiced offensive and defensive zone concepts as well as blitz schemes.
Isabella Alfaro was the Honorary Captain for four years and was one of the pioneers of Taft Girls Flag Football. Malin Nunez and Maddie Beazley are also pioneers playing all four years since they were freshmen. They became city champions in 2022.
There are about 19-20 members on Varsity and 20-21 members on JV. Padilla even stated that this is, “The best program in the school.” He noticed the growth between the four pioneers and the rest of the team before they became city champions and state runner-ups.
Girls Flag Football is an established sport here at Taft High School. On the Girls Flag Football Twitter page, “LadyWarEagle,” there’s a picture of the girls with the check from the Bears team. They’ve played in many games against a variety of different schools in Chicago. This includes Lane Tech where they have recently won 32-0 making them first in the state.
