Hinsdale Central's girls flag football team finished its third season at 1-11. The lone win came against Proviso West.

The program, launched in fall 2024 under head coach Nick Gebhart, has grown from 32 players last year to 45 this season, according to The Hinsdalean's preseason coverage published in August. More than 40 girls attended the team's summer camp.

The season ended Oct. 1 with a 0-30 loss to Plainfield East in the first round of the Illinois High School Association (IHSA) playoffs, according to MaxPreps.

Gebhart, who has coached football and track and field at Hinsdale Central for the past two decades, started the program after hearing about the sport's growing popularity through the NFL, the Devils' Advocate student newspaper reported Nov. 4. He also played flag football in a men's college league.

Building the team has not been simple. Gebhart said in The Hinsdalean's August coverage that conference competition is steep. "LT had 300 girls try out and kept 120. I had 32 girls last year," he said. He pointed to year-round club sports pulling athletes toward lacrosse, basketball and soccer.

The roster keeps growing. In coverage published in August, Gebhart said eight freshmen were playing on varsity, making up nearly half the squad. "It's going to be a learn as you go (season), but it's going to be good growth, good experience," he said.

Player Elle Kinder, a two-year member of the team, told the Devils' Advocate that the program gave her something beyond competition. "It gave me a lot of new friends … and it just has gotten me closer to a lot of people," Kinder said.

Freshman Mikayla Penager joined this fall to try something new. "… I didn't really have the same opportunities in middle school," Penager told the student newspaper. She said the team connected her with upperclassmen who offer guidance.

The program is part of a national wave. More than 102,000 girls played high school flag football in 2025-26, a 551% increase over four years, Axios reported in September, citing the National Federation of State High School Associations (NFHS).

In Illinois, the IHSA sanctioned girls flag football as a varsity sport in February 2024 after a Chicago Bears-led effort helped grow the sport to more than 100 high schools statewide, the Bears said in October. About 240 schools fielded teams this fall. The sport will also debut at the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics.

The Red Devils went 1-8 in their inaugural 2024 season and 1-12 in 2025, according to the Devils' Advocate.

Gebhart told The Hinsdalean in August he sees a path forward. "If we could put some wins out there, we'd attract even more kids," he said.