As final seconds ticked off the clock on Monday night at TCO Stadium, the Mahtomedi girls flag football team started to celebrate.
A dominant campaign for the Zephyrs officially ended with them being named state champions thanks to a 36-20 win over La Crescent-Hokah.
The moments that followed were picturesque as a bunch of trailblazers in the sport made sure to soak in the moment.
They mobbed each other near midfield. They hoisted the trophy skyward while cheering as loud as they possibly could. They snapped dozens of photos so they could always remember what they had accomplished.
“It’s about making memories out here win or lose,” Mahtomedi head coach Nick Sullivan said. “This is something I’ll have until I die. It’s been so memorable with such great kids. I couldn’t have asked for anything better.”
That feeling was shared from the Zephyrs as a whole.
“It kind of felt unreal that girls flag football is a thing and we’re here at the Vikings practice facility playing,” Mahtomedi senior Presley Albers said. “It’ll be really awesome to tell my daughter that I won the first girls flag football state championship for our school.”
That’s exactly what the Vikings were going for when they embarked on their mission of growing the sport once upon a time.
“It’s not hyperbolic to say it’s a dream come true,” said Joe Rush, director of youth and high school football for the Vikings. “It’s something we’ve been working on for a number of years, and this was the crescendo.”
It started last year as a pilot program featuring Rosemount, La Crescent-Hokah, Pine Island and Houston.
As an organization, the Vikings set a goal of expanding that number to 25 teams this year, hoping to build off the momentum last year.
They smashed that number with more than 50 teams in participation.
Though a vast majority of the teams came from the Twin Cities metro, there was a team from as far north as Proctor and from as far south as Fairmont.
“The total investment was in the range of $600,000,” Rush said. “We worked with individual schools. We wanted to meet them where they were at. We asked them to let us know what type of operational expenses they had, because every school is so different.”
A perfect example of that is La Crescent-Hokah. They are a small school yet the Lancers managed to make it to the state championship game. That’s something the players should be proud of.
“They’re really changing the whole landscape of high school sports here in Minnesota,” La Crescent-Hokah head coach Terry Donovan said. “We call them pioneers. We tell them that all the time. My granddaughter is going to get to play girls flag football at the high school level because of them.”
As she reflected on winning the state championship, the moment wasn’t lost on Mahtomedi senior Sophia Peer.
Never mind that she dominated in the state championship game with four touchdown receptions and two interceptions.
She was thinking about the larger impact.
“I never would’ve thought this would happen,” Peer said. “It’s really cool to be a part of.”
Meanwhile, as the Zephyrs celebrated with their fans, a group of players spotted Mahtomedi athletics director Aaron Forsythe, shouting in his direction, “We want a banner!”
Though the sport isn’t yet sanctioned by the Minnesota State High School League, Forsythe smiled at them, almost like he was ensuring them that he would make it happen.
They had certainly earned it.
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