The varsity flag football team played their hearts out on Oct. 17, but came up short with a 20-0 loss against Maine South. The team left the field ending a 17-3 season, which was a record high for wins, senior Captain Sienna Gilles said. Their tenacity carried the team through conference and playoff games, Gilles said.

“What’s happened in a lot of these games is we won’t be winning at first,” Gilles said. “But nobody gives up. We’re mentally tough. And so even when we’re down, we’re able to come back.”

The pivotal moment of the team’s season occurred during their first game against Maine South on Sept. 17 when the girls won 19-0, proving their team’s talent in game, Gilles said.

“We showed up and we beat [Maine South],” Gilles said. “That is when people started to realize that we could actually be something.”

Senior Currey Godbout, center, and daughter of Thomas Godbout, Varsity Flag Football Head Coach, attributes much of the team’s success to coaching. During practice, the team was pushed to their potential through repetition of drills, skill development, and team scrimmages, Tommy Wang, Assistant Head Coach and Offensive Coordinator, explained.

The team had games three days a week and practice after school every day, allowing the girls to improve as players and maintain a game mindset, Wang said.

“Our number one goal going into any season is [that] we want the girls to come out as better, stronger people,” Wang said. “From a team aspect, we want them to play to the most of their potential.”

The girls’ motto throughout their season was “The memory of a goldfish” – the concept that when the game situation got tough, players forgot the tribulations in 10 seconds and moved on to the next play, Gilles said.

“You can not focus on one mistake because it will ruin your focus for the rest of the game,” Godbout said. “You have to keep moving forward.”

Thomas’s daughter and Currey’s younger sister, freshman Cooper Godbout, running back, was the only freshman on the team, so she had to prove that she belonged.

“The biggest challenge for me was proving that I did not get a spot just because I’m the coach’s daughter,” Cooper said. “I wanted everyone to think that I actually deserved it.”

Currey was not Cooper’s only mentor on the team, Cooper said. No matter the outcome of the game, Cooper felt supported by all of her upperclassmen teammates.

“They are all like older sisters to me even though I already have one on the team,” Cooper said.

Since flag football became an IHSA (Illinois High School Association) sport three years ago, the team’s legacy has been created, in part by the graduating seniors, Wang said.

“I am appreciative of the community being in such great support of the program,” Wang said. “The future is bright for [flag football].”