MASCOUTAH - Remi Werden scored two touchdowns, while Sophie Shapiro and Audrey De La Torre Cruz also scored as Edwardsville came from behind to take a 24-19 win over top-seeded Belleville East to win the IHSA girls flag football Mahomet-Seymour Regional on Wednesday night, Oct. 8, 2025, at Alumni Field in Mascoutah.
The win advanced the fourth-seeded Tigers into the Danville Sectional, where the team will face the Indians, who pulled off another upset in their own final, winning over second-seed Peoria Richwoods 7-6, and are now two wins away from advancing to the state finals next weekend at Villa Park Willowbrook High School.
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"It was a very, very close game," said Edwardsville head coach Taylor Hay. "We were down two scores in the first quarter, but we came back and tied it up. It was 12-12 at halftime, and the second half was a back-and-forth affair for both the Tigers and Lancers, but Edwardsville prevailed in the end to move on to the sectional."
Sophie Shapiro ran in from six yards out for the first touchdown, then De La Torre Cruz caught a 14-yard pass from quarterback Ella Wallace, her first of three touchdown passes on the evening, to tie the game at the interval. Werden caught passes of two and nine yards for the winning scores as the Tigers held off East in the end.
Edwardsville is now 12-1, and will play the Indians, who are 4-7 on the year, but defeated third-seeded East St. Louis in Tuesday's semifinal 25-7, then won the final on Wednesday over the Knights, on Monday at a local venue to be announced, with the start time at 6 p.m. The Tigers will be ready to go, regardless of the site.
"I am so grateful and happy," Hay said. "The girls dug themselves out of a deficit, and met East's intensity with momentum, and didn't look back. We made mistakes, and we have work to do before Monday, but they deserved this win."
The Edwardsville-Mascoutah winner advances to the final next Tuesday in Danville against the winner of the second semifinal, which will be the Romeoville regional winner, either Plainfield Central or the host Spartans, and the Kankakee regional champion, either Yorkville or Oswego, with the sectional final starting at 6 p.m.
The Danville Sectional winner advances to the state finals, where they will play the Richton Park Rich Township sectional winner in the second quarterfinal Oct. 17 at 5:45 p.m. The state semifinals are set for Oct. 18 at 11 a.m. and 12:30 p.m., with the third-place game to take place at 2:30 p.m., and the state final set for 4 p.m.
