The Joliet West flag football team had already clinched the Southwest Prairie East title entering Thursday’s rivalry game against Joliet Central.

But that didn’t stop the Tigers from putting an emphatic cap on their regular season, defeating the Steelmen 46-0.

West quarterback Maya Zanzola took center stage, distributing the ball to several different receivers with the Central defense focused on running back Londyn Clemons. Clemons entered the game with nearly 2,800 rushing yards on the year, and according to maxpreps.com’s statistics was the leading rusher in the nation.

Zanzola threw four touchdown passes, one each to Gabriela Popova (11 yards), Mallory Crisafulli (8 yards), Tamia Saunders (8 yards) and Madeline Kinzler (6 yards). Saunders also ran for an 18-yard touchdown and returned an interception 59 yards for a score.

“It just worked out that we were able to pass more today,” Zanzola said. “We have gotten a lot better at pass blocking, and our receivers were getting open and making catches. It was nice to get more people involved in the offense. And the defense did a great job, not giving up any points. That makes it easier for the offense to relax.

“We always get up for a game against our sister school. It’s nice to get out here and interact with them. Both teams are very respectful to each other.”

The flag football postseason starts Monday, and 13th-seeded Joliet Central (1-16, 0-6) will play No. 4 Romeoville in the Romeoville Regional. Joliet West (15-5, 6-0) got the third seed and will play Tuesday in the Kankakee Regional against the winner of No. 6 Oswego and No. 11 Minooka.

Joliet West got an 11-yard TD from Zanzola to Popova with 13 seconds left in the first quarter. Barely two minutes into the second quarter, Saunders intercepted a pass and raced 59 yards down the left sideline for a 14-0 Tigers lead. After another West interception, the Tigers drive 31 yards on four plays, ending with an eight-yard TD pass from Zanzola to Crisafulli. Zanzola hit Saunders with an 8-yard TD with 1:17 left in the second quarter to give West a 27-0 halftime lead.

The Tigers got the ball to start the second half, and three Clemons carries gained 30 yards before Ella Featherston ran for a 50-yard gain. Zanzola then hit Kinzler for a 6-yard touchdown.

The ensuing Central drive reached the West 33 before turning it over on downs. On the second play of the second quarter, Saunders ran 18 yards for a touchdown and a 40-0 lead.

“It was nice to see us throw the ball well today,” West coach Tisha Evans said. “We have to be able to be diverse in our offense. We kind of feel things out as the game goes on. If the running game isn’t going well, we will throw it, and if we aren’t throwing it well, we will run it more. It just happened today that everything worked well.

“It feels good to go into the postseason with a win. We needed this after a tough loss the other day to Naperville Central on senior night. We got back into a groove tonight and used a lot of different players.”

The Steelmen got strong defensive efforts from Aniya Phillips, Ta’Tyanna Nicks, Arianne Elliott and Alivia Smith, among others. Quarterback Georgiana Majerus nearly got the team in the end zone on the final drive of the night, only to have a pass intercepted at the goal line.

Ta’Niya Banks and Laylah Bedolla each caught three passes for Central, while Eliana Fowler caught two.