PARK RIDGE, IL − Emerson De La Cruz wanted to play a "real sport" as a freshman at Maine South High School.
Although she grew up on flag football, she couldn't play it at the high school level because the Illinois High School Association (IHSA) did not recognize it as an official varsity sport.
So De La Cruz played on the freshman volleyball team for the Hawks.
"I wanted to play a real sport rather than a club sport," De La Cruz told USA TODAY Sports. "When (flag football) became a varsity sport, I dropped volleyball immediately and ran to flag football."
The IHSA sanctioned flag football officially on Feb. 14, 2024, paving the way for it to be a varsity sport for the 2024-25
season.
Two seasons later, De La Cruz helped lead the Hawks to a state championship in 2025. Now, she has Maine South back in the IHSA postseason as a No. 1 seed in the Evanston Sectional and is committed to Nebraska to play college flag football.
The Hawks take on No. 16 Niles West at 5 p.m. Monday, Oct. 5.
"She's been a great influence on our team," Maine South flag football junior Sam Reiner told USA TODAY Sports. "(Last year) was my first year playing flag football and she and the seniors last year were really big leaders for me. (She) helped me get a lot better and made me less nervous."
Emerson De La Cruz recruited to play flag football
Maine South flag football coach Carlos Panizo said he attended a Maine South girls basketball game to watch one of his players, Nellie Ossmo, play.
With the first flag football season around the corner, he was in recruitment mode for building the first official varsity team for the Hawks.
Right away, he noticed De La Cruz, who also played for Maine South's basketball team.
"Emerson was just lights out on the court," Panizo told USA TODAY Sports. "Just incredible moves, incredible speed, incredible change of direction. So I told Nellie, 'Get that girl on flag football.'"
Recruiting De La Cruz to flag football did not turn out to be a difficult task for Ossmo.
"I told her, 'You have to play, you have to play,'" Ossmo told USA TODAY Sports. "She had been playing for a long time and she liked it. She was an absolute natural and she's a really good leader. She took charge and she knew what she was doing."
Emerson De La Cruz commits to Nebraska
In August, the NCAA approved budget allocations and funding to support flag football championship and committee oversight starting with the 2027–28 season. The first official women’s flag football NCAA Tournament could happen as early as the spring of 2028.
On July 26, De La Cruz posted on her Instagram that she had received an offer to play college flag football at Nebraska. According to Panizo, she is one of just two non-Olympians to pick up an offer from the Cornhuskers.
"I had gone to their camp that they hosted and I had a great experience there," De La Cruz said. "It was great to meet their coaches. The Sowers twins (Liz and Katie), they are pretty renowned coaches in flag football, so it was nice to meet them and get coaching from them."
A couple of days after, head coach Liz Sowers asked De La Cruz to hop on a call, and Liz Sowers dropped the hammer: "I would like to extend an offer to you from Nebraska."
"Nebraska is really just taking their pick of the superstar players in the country," Panizo said. "For them to come to Illinois and look at one of our players and give her a scholarship, it says a lot about her abilities."
While playing at Nebraska would be a dream come true for De La Cruz, she did not immediately commit. Emerson took an official visit to Lincoln, Nebraska, during the weekend of Oct. 2 and made her commitment official to the Cornhuskers during the trip.
"It's just so crazy," De La Cruz said. "Being an athlete from Illinois, we don't have that many connections in the USA Football world. Being one of the people recognized to receive such an offer and have the opportunity to play there is great."
Maine South looks to repeat as IHSA state champions
Maine South defeated Whitney Young 26-6 to claim the 2025 IHSA Girls Flag Football State Championship. The Hawks joined the Paletine as the lone state champions in state history.
"It felt like we were on top of the world," De La Cruz said. "Being the second team to ever win a state championship means that we'll be put down in history as one of the schools that really started the sport."
With quarterback Aribella Spandiary graduating from last season's championship team, De La Cruz, who played mainly receiver on offense last season, was asked to play a new role: The full-time quarterback for the Hawks.
De La Cruz did play some quarterback during her junior season, but playing it full-time, she has not missed a beat after posting 227 receptions for 3,308 yards and 37 touchdowns in her two prior seasons as a receiver.
In 19 games in 2026, De La Cruz has completed 232 of 372 passes for 3,378 yards, 41 touchdowns and 12 interceptions. She has also added 803 rushing yards and 11 touchdowns to go along with 25 receptions for 352 yards.
"She's not a natural QB, but we impressed upon her and she took up the role," Panizo said. "We started the season a little shaky. She was getting used to the role."
According to Panizo, part of the learning curve and an "intentionally difficult schedule" are the reasons Maine South ended the season 13-6 and ranked No. 10 in the Illinois Super 10 rankings after beginning the year as the No. 5 team in the USA TODAY Sports Super 25 nationally.
"We intentionally scheduled a difficult schedule because we expected to be a state power," Panizo said. "We definitely wanted the girls challenged throughout the year. It's not about the record for the regular season. We had 13 great wins and six losses we're proud of. The record is not as pretty as undefeated teams, but we feel the girls are prepared and battle-tested."
De La Cruz said she is ready to end her senior season on top of the flag football world in Illinois.
"We've been working hard and I just think that we're going to try our hardest to defend our title," she said. "We're not going to let anyone take us down from our current throne."
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: When Illinois finally sanctioned flag football, Emerson De La Cruz seized her moment
