Flag football: St. Charles North caps undefeated season in state championship game win vs. Prospect
From nonplayer to state finalist is the route all of St. Charles North’s flag football players traveled in three years, but senior Kaelie Tomalak was at the wheel this season.
Tomalak did a little bit of everything, fueling the offense as her team’s multidimensional quarterback and patrolling the secondary as a ball-hawking safety.
Perhaps Tomalak’s most significant impact, however, was having the audacity to think big.
“It’s the dream to win the state title,” she said.
Tomalak and her teammates made it a reality on Saturday night. She threw a touchdown pass, rushed for a touchdown and made an interception as the North Stars defeated previously unbeaten Prospect 32-13 in the state championship game at Willowbrook High School in Villa Park.
“It’s incredible to actually happen,” Tomalak said. “We always talk as a team about enjoying the moment because it’s something you’ll remember forever. This definitely will be.”
Senior Alexzandria Richardson rushed for 97 yards and three touchdowns, made five catches for 50 yards, and had four sacks for the North Stars (26-0). For the Knights (21-1), freshman quarterback Madelyn Searle completed 20 of 38 passes for 190 yards and a touchdown with two interceptions, and she also ran for 73 yards and a touchdown.
Tomalak, who completed 15 of 20 passes for 176 yards and carried the ball four times for 63 yards, changed the course of the game with her 14th interception of the season. Following the pick, she threw the go-ahead touchdown pass to sophomore Kathryn Shook with 11 seconds left in the first half.
“I kind of had a feeling (Searle) was looking there as soon as she motioned in,” Tomalak said of the interception. “She did that on a previous play, and that’s something I probably picked up from being a quarterback, thinking ‘what would I do?’”
Between the two positions, there isn’t much Tomalak hasn’t seen, and she’s sure to file everything away in her mind.
“In many ways, safety is similar to playing quarterback,” she said. “You’re reading the quarterback a lot, and it’s a lot of fun. I feel like being at safety because you have a huge voice on the team, similar to quarterback because you see everything. So I think both of those roles go hand in hand really well.”
What’s also apparent is that Tomalak put in the work to get here.
“This is a girl that spent hours in the offseason working on her skills to be a better quarterback,” St. Charles North coach Mike Taormina said. “She went to quarterback training. She played in a spring league. She’s put in the work behind the scenes when nobody was looking, and that clearly shows.”
According to Richardson, Tomalak checks just about every box as a leader.
“I feel like she’s really good under pressure and has really good agility and the ability to move in the pocket and get out of trouble,” Richardson said. “She has amazing character. She’s always bringing so much energy. No matter what the game looks like, she’s always telling us to keep pushing and trying to be an inspiration to others. I love that about her.”
Tomalak actually had to be nudged toward the sport by her father, Brian, who is on the staff of both the football and flag football teams at St. Charles North and played quarterback at Wisconsin-Oshkosh.
“I had to talk her into playing three years ago,” Brian Tomalak said. “She was a basketball player coming up to high school. But when flag came to North, I thought she would like it.
“She started throwing, and I could see she could throw. She could always catch as a kid, and she was always fast. But when I saw her throw, I kind of saw that she had something special there.”