The girls’ flag football team is quickly approaching the end of their eight-game regular season.

They took on a tough Whitman team on Oct. 9, where they lost a hard fought battle 8-14. With this loss, they remained at a positive record of 4-2. With a week’s rest, they were ready to take on the Quince Orchard Cougars at home on Oct. 16. The Patriots looked to march into the playoffs with a big win against QO, who held the same 4-2 record. Wootton got an early lead of 6-0, and held it for almost the entirety of the game. Unfortunately for the team, in the last three minutes of the second half, the Cougars marched down the field to take the lead 7-6 and ended up beating the Patriots on their last drive. This loss left them at 4-3 on the season.

Each of their three losses has been close. The Patriots have been within seven points, or just a single touchdown and extra point away from winning each game that they didn’t come out on top of. In most cases, their wins have been dominant. They have outscored their opponents 100-72, a plus 28 differential through the first seven games of the season, giving them high hopes leading into the playoffs. “I think our team stacks up fairly well next to other teams in the playoffs,” sophomore Alexa Krauthamer said.

The girls were excited to bounce back against Churchill in their game on Oct. 23, in the final regular season game of the year. A win in this game was important for them to pick themselves back up and gain momentum going into the first round of playoffs. They focused on different tactics ahead of the game to try to counter the Churchill team. “Looking towards the Churchill game and the playoffs we have been focusing on defense and communication,” Krauthamer said.

If momentum is what they were aiming for with this game, they scored big. The Patriots dominated the Bulldogs in a 14-0, shutout victory. The defense put on a clinic, shutting their opponents out with multiple clutch interceptions, and even a safety to extend their lead. Their two touchdowns and safety gave the girls their third double digit win of the year. “The team performed really well, we did a lot of good communicating, especially on defense getting a shutout,” junior Megan Lomotan said.

With their 5-3 record to end the regular season, they earned a home playoff game. They play Gaithersburg on Oct. 28. The team is confident heading in, led by their dominant defense throughout the season. “Our defensive team especially has given up no more than two touchdowns in any single game, so we know our defensive plays are really strong,” coach Miranda Custer said.

However, there is a concern going into the playoffs. There are a number of players who are multi-sport athletes on the roster. This commitment comes with a tough time constraint and players can potentially miss practice or games because of it. To counter this possible issue, they have been implementing comprehensive drills into practice. “Ahead of playoffs we have been practicing on having new people playing as quarterback as we have had a lot of injuries and people out sick. We’ve also been working on making sure everyone is strong and healthy as half of our team is dual-athletes. So we have girls going into cheer, golf, soccer, and volleyball playoffs at the same time,” Custer said.

As this is the first season of flag football in high school history, players didn’t have much experience going into the season. Custer said she believes the season exceeded expectations and she is proud of how her players have worked and developed to get to the point where they are now. “This season has exceeded my expectations. When we started over the summer, some girls could barely throw or catch a football. We ended on a high streak, we beat Churchill who is our biggest rival, and we are going into playoffs with a winning season, playing in the 10th seed of 25 teams,” Custer said.

Heading into playoffs, players and coaches are excited to represent the school in the first flag football playoffs in history. “It’s been so amazing being able to represent the school during the regular season. I’m extremely excited to see us start in playoffs Monday and continue on through Wednesday and the following week to see how far we can get,” Custer said.