It took quite a while for the Joliet West flag football team to run its first offensive play of the 2025 season Wednesday.

That was just fine with the Tigers, though, since they already had a seven-point lead over Plainfield South by the time they did get a chance with the ball.

The Cougars, who were playing the first flag football game in school history, got the ball first and drove to midfield. On second down at the West 49, South quarterback Brooke McDonald was intercepted by Janiah Benn, and Benn returned it 55 yards for a touchdown. The conversion was run in by Londyn Clemons and gave the Tigers a seven-point lead lead en route to a 41-6 victory.

Clemons later added a 66-yard touchdown run and finished with 157 yards on just five carries. West quarterback Maya Zanzola threw for a pair of scores, both to Madeline Kinzler, who caught four passes for 78 yards and two TDs. Zanzola finished with 110 yards through the air, while Mallory Crisafulli and Mackenzie Mielke each ran in a touchdown for the Tigers.

Clemons was one of the smallest players on the field, but she has been a football fan for a long time.

“My mom really got me interested in football,” Clemons said. “Along with Coach [Tisha] Evans. Their coaching really helped me understand and enjoy the sport. When I get the ball, I just want to find a little hole because I know not many people are going to catch me.

“We run a lot of reverses and trick plays in our running game. We don’t want the other team to know where the ball is going. That worked pretty well today. I was also proud of our defense. They made a lot of big stops and got on the board first. The blockers also did a great job today. They know where the ball is going and they find someone to block in that area.”

After Benn’s interception return, South drove again, this time reaching the Joliet West 28 before turning it over on downs. The Tigers then drove 72 yards for a touchdown, with Crisafulli scoring on a 34-yard run. The conversion pass failed and West owned a 13-0 lead with 6:21 to go until halftime. After stopping the Cougars on downs, West got the ball again at the South 38. After an 8-yard completion to Gabriella Popova, Zanzola hit Kinzler on a crossing route and Kinzler outran the South defense for a 30-yard touchdown with just 55 seconds to play in the first half. Tamia Saunders passed to Zanzola for the two-point conversion and a 21-0 halftime lead.

Joliet West got the ball to start the second half and drove 86 yards in 11 plays, with Zanzola finding Kinzler for a 5-yard TD and a 27-0 lead. The Cougars offense drove the ball again and found the end zone for the first time ever on an 11-yard run by Kimoree Patrick to make it 27-6.

West answered quickly with a 66-yard TD run by Clemons to make it 33-6 before the defense got the ball back on an interception by Mielke. Mielke capped that drive with a 17-yard scoring run and the conversion pass went from Zanzola to Saunders.

Plainfield South drove to the Joliet West 17 on its final drive before time ran out.

“All across the board, the girls played really well today,” Evans said. “Pretty much every girl on defense is new this year, so it was nice to see them play well.

“Offensively, we played real well. Having a girl with Londyn’s speed is a good place to start. Also, Maya is our captain, and the offense starts with her. She did a great job of leading us today.”

South got 203 passing yards from freshman Brooke McDonald, with sophomore Sophia Reynoso making a pair of 31-yard receptions. Freshman Simone Miller made several tackles at or near the line of scrimmage on defense.

“For our first game ever, the product was pretty good,” South coach Alana Warren said. “We are a very young team. We have a freshman quarterback who has a lot of potential and we had a good performance from a sophomore receiver.

“There’s no quit in these girls. You saw that by how they kept fighting to score right to the end. We’re still trying to figure out who can do what. We’ll take a look at this game and see what was good and what was not so good. We are just going to try to get 1% better every day. It’s a long season, and we will be playing better at the end of it.”