Since 2021, the Bears — with the support of Nike, Gatorade and Visa — have played an integral role in bringing girls flag football to high schools in Illinois and helping expand the sport to the IHSA level. This year, ChicagoBears.com took a deep dive into how the sport changes the lives of the student-athletes who play it. We followed the Whitney Young Dolphins, a Chicago Public League team that just completed its fourth season under head coach Valerie Spann and has now placed at the State Championships in back-to-back years.

This is the second of a three-part series where Bears writer Gabby Hajduk and photographer Molly Kaiser take readers behind the scenes on the Dolphins' thrilling and dramatic postseason run to the second-ever IHSA State Playoff Series.

Although Spann's prophecy rang true, the win came with some dramatics.

Adversity plagued the Dolphins early when quarterback Georgia Lang threw a pick-six on the second play of the game. It would have been easy for the group to crumble, to revert to the preseason, when a canyon-sized divide existed between the offense and defense.

Instead, the girls proved that the team's culture had shifted since the devastating loss in the city tournament the month prior.

After all, Lang's teammates trusted her to come through in the clutch when it truly mattered, the same way the Bears locker room knows they're never out of it with Caleb Williams at the helm.

Lang quickly bounced back with a pair of back-to-back touchdown passes.

"The way the game started, that's not how anyone wants it to go," Lang said. "I just had to take a deep breath. It was like, 'Okay, that happened,' and I thought we were able to just flush it.

"No one yelled, no one was like, 'Oh, that's your fault.' We were all like, 'Okay, bad throw, move on.' My teammates had my back. Once we were able to start moving, I knew we were locked in and good to go."

Lang went on to throw four total touchdown passes and the defense completely shut out the Oak Park-River Forest offense in a dominant victory.

"That was resilience," Spann said. "I mean, we could have put our heads down and thought, 'You know what, it's over.' There was a lot of football left to play. And after that, that was the best drive of our season.

"I don't know what came over them, but I'll take it. They played out of their minds today."

The championship celebration somehow exceeded Spann's expectations. Upon accepting the sectional championship plaque and the Illinois-shaped State Qualifier sign, the girls huddled together to perform their newly created rally cry — led by rusher Ja'Mya Hamilton — that became as important to their postseason run as coach Ben Johnson's beloved "Good. Better. Best." chant has become to the Bears locker room.

"I said, 'Brr, it's cold in here, there must be some Dolphins in the atmosphere,'" Hamilton yelled, before the rest of the team repeated the line back at double the volume.

"Fins up!" closed the chant as the girls clasped their hands above their heads a an homage to their school mascot.

After the huddle broke, plenty of shrieks, laughs and dance moves followed. Principal Rickey Harris even joined in on the celebration, busting out a few of his own moves before the girls began begging him to give them first period off the following morning. He caved almost instantly — a decision more indicative of Harris' support of the team rather than the players' persuasion efforts.

"I'm a teacher at heart, and will always be a teacher," Harris said, "but I also know and recognize at this big age that I am now, that it's moments like those that they'll cherish and remember forever. They may not remember the quadratic formula, they may not remember the equation for force or velocity, but they will certainly remember that moment."

That moment is now a core memory for the players, who had to be ushered out by the stadium's lone security guard, who repeated about 10 times, "The lights are going to shut off if we don't hurry."

With first period off tomorrow, who would want such an exciting night to end? Spann, however, reminded the girls they would still be expected at practice the next afternoon. Much like Ben Johnson's sentiment the past several weeks, Spann echoed that the Dolphins' sole goal had yet to be achieved. Reaching state served as the Dolphins' "Good." while placing better than last year would be "Better." and ultimately winning the championship would be "Best."

The girls took that sentiment seriously. Many of them made the trip to State 12 months ago and felt a burning aspiration to experience the thrill of once again placing in the tournament.

"The high of going last year to State just makes it — I want it so bad because I had so much fun when we were there," Lang said. "I just — I want to go again."

That declaration rang true throughout the entire team. However, there was another reason they were pushing so hard to qualify for State.

The week before the sectional championship game, Molly and I broke the news that we would be covering the State series at Willowbrook for the Bears' channels, regardless of their playoff status.

Feeling betrayed by our statement, the girls' FOMO prevailed.

"We were talking on the drive here today," Lang told us, "and we said it would be embarrassing if you guys went to State without us. So we had to win."

In the six minutes it took for the group to walk from the lunchroom to the sidewalk on West Jackson Boulevard, the girls had shed their timidness and regained their swagger. It no longer felt embarrassing to be honored.

It felt uplifting.

"We really saw how girls flag football is growing and the support and the love for the game is growing," senior safety Kennedy Glover said. "Just being able to see our school as a part of that, it was really powerful for us."

The pep band played one more song and everyone gathered to take a picture and provide a final round of cheers before the girls boarded the bus and shifted their focus to the State series.

Spann remembers Harris organizing a similar sendoff last year, but something about this one felt different. Physically, there were more people present, but the energy also seemed to have grown.

Flag football was no longer viewed as an extension of the traditional "powderpuff" games girls would play in. In the past couple years, the sport has gained global traction — as seen by the Bears helping launch leagues in the United Kingdom and Spain — and is now set to debut at the 2028 Olympic Games in Los Angeles. Now more than ever, people across the world were paying attention.

At a local level, the sport's rapid evolution in the Chicagoland area warranted respect and legitimacy. With increased opportunity through travel teams and college scholarships, competition and talent intensified. New teams and players were celebrated as trailblazers, but there were no participation trophies.

In four short years, the championship tournament went from a small event at the Walter Payton Center, the Bears' indoor practice facility in Lake Forest ,to a locally-broadcast, IHSA-sanctioned event at an outdoor site. The Bears still have continued to support the state series – President & CEO Kevin Warren led a large group of staff that attended this year. Warren served as an honorary captain for one of the games, as did special advisor to the President/CEO & chief administrative officer Ted Crews, executive vice president of stadium development & chief operating officer Karen Murphy and executive vice president of diversity, equity and inclusion & chief impact officer Tanesha Wade. For a second straight year, chairman George H. McCaskey worked alongside the officiating crew to assist with the down marker.

Reaching the State tournament meant being a part of the top .02 percent of teams in Illinois. Achieving that success two years in a row forces people to pay attention.

"Mr. Harris would not have let us leave without having a celebration," Spann said. "It was bigger than we thought it would be. I told the girls, when you are successful in your sport and your craft, people will celebrate you and they will start to take you seriously. I think people are realizing this is a real thing. It's not that easy to go to State back-to-back [years].

They're being very supportive, and Mr. Harris, our principal, has given us whatever we need. I think when we initially started, it wasn't taken seriously, but now folks are buying in. Our former principal will be here tonight to support the girls. A lot of my fellow coworkers are coming out to support the girls, so I think they know we're serious about this.

"I'm serious. I've always been serious. But people are just now catching up with us."

What kept them from immediately packing up their bags and rushing home to be ready for their noon game versus Willowbrook was the fact that no matter what happened tomorrow, the 2025 season would over.

At their final practice of the year the day prior, the Dolphins tried to prepare for this moment. For the first hour, Spann led practice as normal in preparation for the biggest weekend of the season, but during the final 45 minutes, the team gathered on the turf and just talked, beginning with each person sharing their highs and lows from the season.

"It was a bittersweet moment, because we've had more highs than lows this season, so I wanted it to be lighthearted, to be loving, and for the girls to all have their time to share theirs," Spann said. "It was fun to reflect on the season, and what it means to each of them. We knew this was our last official practice, and we just made the most of it."

Spann was the first to speak, sharing that her low was obviously the city playoff loss. Her high, which elicited tears from the group, was simply coaching this team and watching them work tirelessly to make it back to State.

What made Spann emotional was that the girls all referenced their personal relationships when discussing their season "highs."

"It was the friendships," Spann recalled. "The fact that they got close and they feel like a family."

Spann admitted that players becoming real friends throughout the season surprised her. Back in August, there was a clear divide between the offense and defense. The group lacked cohesion. But once the wins started piling up, and the girls realized their potential, they fully committed to being there for each other. Look no further than the 2025 Bears to see how valuable locker room chemistry is for a football team.

"Win or lose, they're gonna have each other's backs on the field," Spann said. "They're gonna have each other's back when I'm going at them. They'll pick each other up. That I love to see, that growth. And it took some time to get to that point, but we got there and I wouldn't trade it for anything in the world, the closeness of their group now."

While every coach hopes they cultivate that bond within a team, it takes authenticity and buyin to make it happen, the latter of which came mainly from Glover.

Her role in leading the players-only meeting Sept. 29 came as no shock to Spann. Possessing wisdom beyond her years, Glover often served as an extension of Spann, or a bridge between the coach and players.

"I said my high was — I love meeting new people and making new friends," Glover shared. "Some people in the circle said they felt very included on the team, and it seems like a family, and everybody knows that's really my main purpose of being on the team.

"I like that inclusive space where everybody can feel like they can be themselves. And it was really heartwarming for me to know that I made this team a safe space for everybody."

Anyone who knows Glover knows she will never waver from serving as that unifier. Hamilton joked that when there's been conflict, "I'll be like, 'Kennedy, say something!' and she's like, 'No, Jamaya, I have to stay in the middle.'"

While Glover possessed that trait much earlier than this year, it was girls flag football that brought it out of her. Glover played basketball as a freshman, but she never felt that sense of family within that sport, and it made love for it fade. She believed that in team sports, your teammates should be your biggest cheerleaders, and without that support, it was difficult for a team to reach its full potential. Once she switched to girls flag football as a sophomore, she vowed to never make a girl feel like an outcast.

"For me, as her dad, seeing that aspect of her and coming into her own over the years, I'm really not worried about her and her next step in life," Kennedy's dad, Jermaine, said. "I tell her all the time, 'You've got this. If you can lead a bunch of young women, different backgrounds, different attitudes, for you to corral them and tell them, 'It's okay,' and for you to hold your composure, and for you to believe, there's nothing more as parents we can ask for.' So, she's ready."

Between practice on Thursday afternoon and after the victory Friday night, it's safe to assume many of the girls would include advancing to the second day of State as one of those many highs. The win over Antioch meant the Dolphins were only one game away from achieving the singular goal Spann establishes each season.

"Coach Val always says we have to go a step further than what we did last year," Glover said. "As long as we do that, it's okay with her. So I just want to see us win State, because I know how hard this team has worked on and off the field throughout the season."

While Spann, of course, desperately desired to achieve that lone goal, she wanted nothing more on a personal level than for her girls to soak the moment in. They were at the second-ever IHSA State Championships. They just guaranteed themselves a spot among the top four girls flag football teams in Illinois. They represented all of Chicago, where the sport launched four years ago.

"I'm hoping they're taking it all in and just enjoying the experience, win or lose, just take it all in," Spann said. "It's a testament to the work we put in all season long for the past four years. We deserve to be here. I believe we're one of the best teams, and although many are saying that our regional or sectional was easy, you still gotta go out there, you gotta perform. You gotta play, you gotta win these games. Because on any given day, you can be beat, so I don't take it for granted, winning games, because you could have easily been going home.

"It means a lot to be back here. I started four years ago and all I wanted to do was just coach and start a program. And now I sit here, and I look back, and we've come a long way. I'm happy for the success. And I don't take it for granted, because I could be one of those teams sitting at home watching on television."

Lingering on that field at Willowbrook until the beaming stadium lights cut out and Hamilton's booming laugh echoed throughout the stands meant the girls realized all of that.

After the infamous city tournament loss and just 10 days before hosting regionals at Whitney Young, Spann felt forced to look inward and reassess her role in what went wrong that day. Throughout many discussions with assistant coach and defensive coordinator Edward Hamilton, she decided to rejigger the Dolphins lineup. The two most crucial changes were having Hamilton and Lloyd play on both sides of the ball.

Together, Hamilton and Lloyd were the engine of the Dolphins defense. During her junior season, Hamilton finished with 82.0 sacks, which ranked No. 2 in the state and No. 5 nationally. As a senior, Lloyd secured 12 interceptions, ranking No. 12 in Illinois.

Throughout the postseason, the talented pair became crucial pieces of the offense as well. Hamilton totaled 357 yards of offense and three touchdowns as a running back/receiver, while Lloyd caught 13 passes for 172 yards and a touchdown as a receiver.

"Whatever it takes to win this championship, I was gonna do," Spann said. "So I had no choice but to play them. They're playmakers, and you have to put the playmakers in when they count, so they gave me their all. I've been impressed with that grit."

A more subtle lineup change proved to be a difference maker in the Dolphins' semifinal game against Willowbrook.

Visibly fatigued from the late-night quarterfinal win, the Dolphins lacked their typical goofy, upbeat energy in warmups while the undefeated Warriors appeared well-rested and fired up. That appeared to carry over to the start of the game, when Willowbrook took a 6-0 first-quarter lead.

With the game tied 6-6 at halftime after Lang connected with sophomore Cora Quilty for a 48-yard TD in the second quarter, the next score would be pivotal. Fittingly, the deciding touchdown in the Dolphins' 12-6 victory came courtesy of freshman Ella Schuler, a backup quarterback who Spann moved to defense at the start of regionals.

If you told Schuler at the beginning of the season that her touchdown would propel the Dolphins to the State finals, she would've felt indifferent, given that it likely meant something had happened to Lang. Instead, Schuler found herself on the positive side of a pick-six, recording her first career interception and returning it 30 yards for the score.

Think of Schuler's pick-six in the same light as cornerback Nahshon Wright's interception return for a touchdown in the Bears' season opener against the Vikings. Both players relatively unknown in their respective leagues, but with the right coaching and opportunity, were able to showcase their skill.

"These girls are playing for one another right now, not for themselves," Spann said. "It's bigger than just them as an individual. I sent them a note this morning, 'It's game day. Come in with our playmaker mentality. I want you to be the person to make the play.'

"We're now one of two teams left standing for flag football in the state. They should be proud of what they've accomplished. I'm still in shock, because it's happening so fast. But we put in the work. We really did. We deserve everything that's coming our way."

While the home bleachers were overflowing with Willowbrook fans, the semifinal victory caused the small but mighty group of fans on the away side to erupt in cheers so loud that it shook the bleachers.

With their loyal friends, family and loved ones overlooking the sideline, Principal Harris recording and Bears mascot Staley Da Bear in attendance, the Dolphins celebrated their goal-achieving win the same way they had commemorated their last five playoff victories.

"I said, Brr, it's cold in here, there must be some Dolphins in the atmosphere! I said, Brr, it's cold in here, there must be some Dolphins in the atmosphere!

"Fins up!"

A thrilling, unforgettable celebration for the Dolphins turned out to be the final celebration of the 2025 season.

Five hours later, the Dolphins ended the State championship game in tears, falling to No. 1 seed Maine South 26-6, a momentarily disappointing end to an otherwise monumental season.

"I'm so proud of this team, but it's just hard to be happy when it ends on a loss," Lang admitted. "It almost felt like third place last year felt better. But at the end of the day, we know third place would not feel better. And our one goal going into this season was to do better than last year. So when we won this morning, I was just so excited that we did it."

Lang's internal battle of feeling proud, yet empty, was shared among the entire team. When the buzzer first sounded on their season a little before 7 p.m., the Dolphins appeared stunned, unable to look each other in the eyes, let alone speak. They quietly accepted their second-place trophy to the sounds of Maine South deservedly celebrating their first-place honor. Spann forced smiles out of a few girls while awarding them their silver medals before the team snapped minimal team photos, which featured tear-stained cheeks and lackluster smiles.

That somber period was the longest I had watched the girls stay down on themselves the entire season. I was almost alarmed until around 7:20 p.m., when a couple of jokes started flying, the girls started taking pictures with the trophy and before we knew it, the fun-loving group of trailblazers had returned.

Of course, the loss stung. Only one win had stood between Whitney Young and a state championship, and at first, the past several months of trials and tribulations felt pointless. That was until the girls remembered who they were. They just solidified themselves as the second-best team in Illinois.

No. 2 out of 226.

Representatives of the entire city of Chicago.

"I didn't know what to expect with this team this year," Spann said. "We were trying to figure it out, and three weeks ago, we put a whole different lineup together. I think that was the best move because, again, we got us a second-place trophy in State.

"I'm extremely proud. They wanted the championship. It didn't happen, but it's still a good moment. We're the second-best team in the state. And this is the proof in the pudding right here. Not many people could say they were down here playing on the last day of flag football, so I'm excited and I'm happy."

The girls will likely appreciate that second-place trophy more as time goes on and they recognize the significance of their achievement, despite ending the season on a loss. What really revived them that Saturday evening at Willowbrook was their love for one another. None of them left that field before expressing that love.

"My teammates, I mean, getting close to them was actually the best thing ever," Lang said. "And we have so much fun in school, too. You guys are only here for flag, but we mess around all the time.

They're some of my best friends now."

"These are my best friends," Lloyd shared through sobs. "We've known each other because we played on the team last year, but I feel like this year we really got closer. Because we played so many games together, we've gotten really close, and these are really my best friends.

I'm gonna be sad to not see them. I'll see them in hallways, but it won't be the same."

"I'd do anything for them. I love them," said Hamilton.

Senior Arden Rubenstein, Lang, Lloyd, Hamilton and Spann were the last ones to leave Willowbrook that night. Saying goodbye to each other and the 2025 season took a couple of tries, but in typical fashion, involved more tears from laughing rather than crying.

Talking to Spann in the parking lot after all the girls departed, she was the most content I had seen her all season. Typically after games, she would reflect on necessary improvements or turn her focus to the next task at hand. But that night, Spann only expressed pride in her girls.

The Dolphins indeed achieved more than last season, but more importantly, Spann could confidently say this group had created a lasting legacy at Whitney Young.

These girls did something special — for themselves and for each other. They forged their own little family, one that could only be born through girls flag football.

"They're making a difference playing flag," Spann said. "Flag is something that they can own. This is your work. They should be proud of the legacy that they're leaving at Whitney Young and in flag football. Hopefully, it builds their confidence, because I'm sure before they came out, they didn't know anything about football, and now look where they are. So I'm hoping it builds their confidence to try anything, whatever they put their mind to."

Stay tuned for Part 3, which will detail what happens once the girls flag football season concludes, including award dinners, All-Star showcases, a program rebuild and more.