Willowbrook's girls flag football team beat Lake Park 25-20 on Wednesday, Oct. 7, to win the Lake Park Regional championship and advance to Saturday, Oct. 10's IHSA sectional semifinal.

The second-seeded Warriors will face top-seeded Oswego East, which enters at 17-1 after shutting out Geneva 12-0 in its own regional final Wednesday. Both teams' records speak for themselves: Willowbrook went 23-1 last year and finished third at the state tournament.

Willowbrook, now in its fifth season, is coached by Rachel Karos, the IHSA 2024-2025 Girls Flag Football Coach of the Year. The Warriors returned most of their lineup this fall despite graduating star quarterback Marli Smrz, the 2025 Suburban Life Player of the Year who threw for 72 touchdowns.

Senior quarterbacks Madeline Carine and Kaitlyn Santos have split time under center this season. Carine had passed for 922 yards and 13 touchdowns as of early October, according to a USA TODAY Sports profile of the program.

Karos said in an August preseason preview that her seniors had prepared for this kind of run. "Despite losing players in key positions last year due to graduation, we feel really confident in how we prepared our current players to step in and fill those roles … This group of seniors has worked really hard," she said.

Oswego East presents a stiff test.

The Wolves, in only their second IHSA season, won back-to-back regional titles and held Geneva to 167 yards in Wednesday's shutout. "We've just got to play our game and stay disciplined, and play with effort, and we'll see what happens," Oswego East coach Ryan Clifford told Shaw Local's Friday Night Drive after the regional win.

Clifford said the Wolves want to avoid a repeat of last year's playoff exit. Willowbrook finished third at the 2025 state tournament after winning regional and sectional titles that season.

The Oct. 10 sectional semifinal time and location have not been announced.