The girls flag football Romeoville regional championship looked like it might be decided early on Thursday evening.

It was up for grabs again and then appeared to be won once more midway through the fourth quarter. When Romeoville cut it back to one possession, it was up to their defense to stop Plainfield Central and give the offense another shot.

It came down to one play. On fourth-and-one from their own 40-yard line with two minutes left on the clock, Wildcats coach Jenna Malak opted to go for it. If successful, Plainfield Central could kneel it out. If not, the Spartans would have two minutes to go 40 yards and take the lead.

Quarterback Alyssa Link took the snap under center. She reached the ball up and over the heads of her linemen as the Spartans rushed for her flag. As they pulled it, the officials moved forward, signaled first down, then huddled with the other refs to discuss it. Malak signaled first down, while Romeoville coach Chaz Kuhn signaled the opposite direction.

After almost a minute, the huddle broke, and the white hat gave his ruling. The call was confirmed. First down, Wildcats. With that, Link took a knee, and the clock ran out. Final score: 18-13, Plainfield Central. Regional championship: Clinched in Central’s first year of participation. Field: Stormed.

“There’s a lot of excitement right now,” Link said. “I really just wanted to finish it and get the first down for our team. We’ve worked so hard all season and we just really want to see that hard work pay off.”

Plainfield Central (12-8) was happy enough to be regional champs. But consider that their second game of the season came against Romeoville and resulted in a 38-8 loss, and the victory was made even sweeter.

“I know these girls were really looking forward to coming back and playing Romeoville again,” Malak said. “Being able to beat them and win the regional championship after that [Week 2] game, it just shows how much we’ve grown as a team. It’s all excitement now, and I’m just so proud of them.”

The Wildcats started the year 3-5 with all first-time players. Malak pointed out that in the second game of the year, they were still learning the rules. What a difference time and experience have made as they completed their third consecutive win over a higher seed.

“We worked hard together and practiced for this,” running back Shania Davison said. “Our first time playing them, we really didn’t know what we were doing. That was our second game. This time, we really locked in, we knew what we were doing and we knew what not to do. That’s why we won.”

The ninth-seeded Wildcats knocked off eighth-seeded Plainfield North to start the postseason before upsetting top-seeded Bradley-Bourbonnais on Tuesday. Romeoville was the fourth seed.

The Wildcats only needed one play to take the lead as Link found Davison for an 85-yard scoring strike to open things up. Link plunged in from 1 yard out in the second quarter to stretch the lead to 12-0 before Romeoville answered. A 11-yard TD pass from Jenna Jarmus to Milan Cadet just before halftime cut the Wildcats’ lead to 12-7.

Grace Flanagan seemed to seal the deal in the third quarter with a 36-yard TD run to make it 18-7, but a 56-yard TD bomb from Jarmus to Cadet with 3:45 to go made it interesting. Romeoville never got the ball back after that, as Plainfield Central got the win.

Davison had 75 rushing yards on eight carries in addition to the 85-yard TD catch. Link was 6-of-10 passing for 125 yards, one TD and one pick to Romeoville’s Natalie Pina and 40 yards rushing. Madison Roberts (interception) and Maesyn Overman (sack) led the defense.

Romeoville (16-5) was led by Jarmus (253 passing yards), Cadet (12 catches for 183 yards), Elani Trejo (two TFLs) and Delilah Carli (two TFLs).

“We thank the seniors for establishing something that is going to go on for a long time,” Kuhn said. “They were a great foundation for this program. I told the underclassmen to remember this feeling and come back with a purpose next year and finish what we started.”

Plainfield Central will play Yorkville at 6:30 p.m. Monday in a sectional semifinal at Danville High School.