IHSA Cuts Girls’ Flag Football Season To Just Five Weeks

As an avid football fan, I love all kinds of football, whether at the professional, collegiate, high school, or grade school level.

In recent years, I’ve been paying more and more attention to girls’ flag football, too.

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Sanya Kushak

A Step Backward for Equity: IHSA Truncates the Girls’ Flag Football Season

You can see the popularity rising, especially here in Illinois; however, there was a recent move that’s gonna make the players, their parents, and fans a little bummed out.

The IHSA shortened the girls’ flag football season to only 36 days, which amounts to only five weeks.

The 36-Day Crunch: IHSA Slashes Schedule to Just Five Weeks

The reason for this is that the IHSA voted to expand boys' high school football from 256 to 384 teams, meaning more teams requiring more space to practice and play throughout the fall.

Because of this, the IHSA then moved the girls’ flag football state finals up a week to October 16-17. However, instead of starting the season earlier, they will start at the same time, resulting in fewer games.

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Sanya Kushak

Prioritizing the Boys: The Structural Shift Behind the Shortened Season

Not a great move when you consider the sport continues to grow and has created many opportunities for students to earn college scholarships to play beyond high school.

One fewer game for girls’ flag football in Illinois means one fewer chance to show potential schools they can play at the next level. Besides that, the shortened season can be seen as an equity issue, making Illinois’ girls’ flag football schedule one of the shortest in the country.

It’s probably too late to do something about the change in 2026, but it’s worth looking at in 2027. I’m all for making sure the boys' football teams have extra time to prepare and get proper rest, but doing that at the expense of other student activities is not the right move.

There are six high school girls’ flag football teams in Rockford, with another being a co-op squad comprising students from Belvidere, Harlem, Boylan, and Huntley.