Bears support Maine South High School at NFL Flag Championships

A little over a year ago, Maine South High School girls flag football coach Carlos Panizo sat in his hotel between meetings at a school safety conference and watched the inaugural NFL Flag Championships premiere on national television.

While watching the Championships, Panizo wasn’t even thinking of his team competing in Canton, Ohio, one day. At the time, Panizo was focused on preparing for Maine’s South first IHSA-sanctioned girls flag football season their Maine South’s second season overall after originally operating as a club sport in 2023.

Fast forward to last weekend, when Panizo and seven members of the Maine South squad took a flight two states east and represented the Bears at the second annual NFL Flag Championships —an event that featured nearly 300 girls and boys teams and 3,000 players across multiple age divisions, including eight international teams.

“I remember watching the amazing athletes there, the amazing clubs and schools that were participating in that event [last year],” Panizo said. “Just seeing what incredible coverage it was getting by ESPN and all that, I thought, ‘that’s so cool. I would love someday for my kids to have an opportunity like that.’

“It’s really hard to wrap my brain around that in two years, we went from asking girls in the cafeteria if they wanted to try out for this new club to participating at the NFL Flag Championships. And obviously without the Bears not only setting up the flag league here in the Chicagoland area, but also cultivating it with all these extra events, it would in no way have been possible.”