With the start of girls flag football at Lyons Township High School in 2024, sophomore Alyssa Episcopo of Brookfield and twin sister Delaney gave the sport a chance.
“I saw the post LT was starting a team. I thought it would be fun to play a sport the first year provided for us and as a way to meet new people,” Alyssa Episcopo said. “I really fell in love with it and have enjoyed playing. The girls are all so close we’ve just become so close throughout the season and it’s just so fun to build that relationship.”
The Episcopos are among varsity newcomers that with several returnees hope to help the Lions have an even better postseason. The team is 14-2 and had won 11 straight before losing 12-7 at Glenbard West Saturday with a chance to win the first West Suburban Conference Silver Division championship outright.
“The last few weeks we’ve kind of been rocky but I think we’re going to come together when we need to in these next few games,” senior and two-way starter Kennedy Campbell said. “I think this will kind of leave a chip on our shoulder and motivate us to do better in harder games because now we’re facing harder competition. We’ve worked together really well and I think we’re only going to keep getting better.”
The Lions (5-1 in Silver) still could earn a share of the Silver title if the Hilltoppers (13-1, 5-0) lose their finale Tuesday to York (6-5, 3-2). Now the focus is a trip to the state quarterfinals Oct. 17 at Willowbrook as the No. 1 seed in the Hinsdale South Sectional.
Girls flag football became an IHSA-sanctioned sport in 2024 and WSC Silver play began this season. In their first season, the Lions reached the sectional semifinals and finished 14-4. This season has included a 9-7 overtime victory over Naperville Central (10-3) Sept. 16 and 8-7 overtime loss Aug. 30 to Maine South (17-3).
The Lions have scored at least 20 points 11 times. Saturday marked only the third game they’ve allowed two touchdowns.
“I have a very large senior group and this is the group that we started the program with. It’s fun to see them grow from last year,” LTHS coach Meghan Hutchens said. “This (Glenbard West) loss is good for us because the next loss may put us out. We need to just learn from it and move on and stay confident because we delivered the ball in the right places. We had the opportunity to win (Saturday).”
This is Alyssa Episcopo’s first season as a pass rusher, platooning with junior Ada Flynn. Delaney Episcopo is out this season with an ACL injury. Episcopo had one of her best games in the 19-12 victory over Oak Park and River Forest Sept. 25 with two sacks and three quarterback hurries. This year’s new rule allows rushers to line up only 1 yard from the line of scrimmage.
“It’s really hard for (Delaney). But she comes to every game and she’s definitely playing next year,” Alyssa Episcopo said. “(Against OPRF) I feel like I was able to apply pressure really well. It definitely made it harder to make throws.”
LTHS took a 7-6 lead on quarterback Char Ebeid’s 9-yard TD run and conversion pass to all-stater Anna Bigenwald with 1:13 left in the first half.
Glenbard West scored the winning touchdown on a 20-yard pass with 28.5 seconds left in the third quarter. The Lions’ final possession began at their 3 with 22.6 seconds left and ended with an interception at the Glenbard West 44 as time expired.
Ebeid leads the offense with sophomore running back/receiver Taylor Hoffenberg and Bigenwald their top threats. Bigenwald, Carly Granger and Jane Erickson had TDs against OPRF.
Junior Megan Robinson has been an integral defensive newcomer, recording a team-best six flag pulls against OPRF and sharing a team-high five with Madeline Blasco Saturday. Campbell, Maren Cavanagh and Teya Magajne are other defensive standouts.
“The first year was definitely a good thing for us but for the (varsity) newcomers, it also was good because it taught them how to play,” Hoffenberg said. “We’d only lost one game and it was by one point so I think (Saturday) this was a good thing for us to all learn that you win some and you lose some.”