Updated June 21st, 2026

If you’re not listed, please contact us at Dave@easternpafootball.com. 

I will continue adding players daily to my list!

MECHANICSBURG, PA — It had to end this way. It was the only way it could end—with Keira Quinn holding the ball aloft after another win.

Gwynedd Mercy Academy senior and the Maxwell Club national high school flag football Player of the Year faced some mild adversity in her last game—the Big 33 All-Star Flag Football tournament on Sunday between top all-star senior teams from Philadelphia (Eagles), Washington, D.C. (Commanders), Baltimore (Ravens) and Pittsburgh (Steelers).

For the first time all season, Quinn was looking up at the downside of the scoreboard. For the first time in the Big 33 all-star round-robin tournament, Quinn and her Eagles’ teammates were scored on. Quinn, and her Eagles’ teammates, responded—scoring two unanswered touchdowns and hung on at the end to threepeat as Big 33 champions, 21-13, over the Commanders at Cumberland Valley’s Chapman Field.

Quinn scored all three Eagles’ touchdowns, two rushing, and on an 18-yard pick-six in the final minute of the game that sealed the victory.

Quinn had a star-studded team around her that included North Penn’s Amani Keys, who had a team-high four receptions for 74 yards, including a 19-yard reception that led to the Eagles’ go-ahead touchdown, and Palumbo’s Reece Jackson-Roane and Bea Kaeli, whose game-changing interception midway through the second half helped put the Eagles up 14-7.

“On the (fourth-quarter) interception, a lot of schools that played against Gwynedd ran that play and we practiced against it,” said Quinn, who played the last game for her father, GMA head coach Tim Quinn. “When Amani was put in during the second half, I looked to her, and she’s such a big spirit on and off the field. When we got down (in the first half), we didn’t panic. We were only a point down, and we knew we would come back.”

Keira will be attending Montgomery Community College in the fall, help her father coach GMA’s flag team next spring, and begin looking at a college to continue her flag career.

“I think what I’ll remember most is all of the girls, the time we spent together and the memories we made,” Quinn said. “It is true, that was the first I ever trailed in a game this season. When we were down, the attitude was to go out and just play football.”

Keys was a difference-maker in the second half. Quinn began looking for her down the middle of the field and adding a boost to the Eagles’ offense. The Eagles team had not been scored on in the previous three tournament games as the only undefeated team.

“Our focus was not to get in our own heads, and my focus was to catch the ball, look it in and get yards,” said Keys, who will be attending Eastern University to play flag football. “I get to go as a winner and it was great connecting with all of the girls on this team. It’s probably what I will remember the most.”

As for Tim Quinn, he closed an amazing run with his youngest daughter Keira. But Quinn considers all of the girls who play for him his daughters.

Quinn recalled being the head coach at North Catholic in 2002 and 2003 when his teams finished a combined 2-22 in two years—and Quinn never thought he would lose a game.

“I did like the way this ended,” Tim Quinn said. “We were down, but I had no doubts we would be back. Last night, we honored a young man who played in the Big 33 who died in Vietnam. There are bigger things than winning and losing. I’m so glad to have players like Amani, who I have coached since she was 10. She was the leader of the team all weekend.

“I was happy to win a game like this, because we did come back, and we were tested, and we passed the test. I’m coming to create the way for women to coach flag football, and credit to the Washington staff and how they adjusted to us. I told the girls that the game would come we get tested—and we did. I’m happy we were tested and we answered.

“It’s what great teams do.”

It could not have ended any other way.

Scoring Summary

Commanders 7 6 – 13

Eagles 6 15 – 21

1st Half

Eagles – Keira Quinn (Gwynedd Mercy Academy) 1 run (pass failed), 16:43

Commanders – Adriana Ortiz-Mayorga (South County) 8 pass from Sophie Toole (Oakton) (Toole run), 10:42

2nd Half

Eagles – Quinn (GMA) 3 run (Amani Keys (North Penn) pass from Quinn), 16:43

Eagles – Quinn (GMA) 18 INT return (Reece Jackson-Roane (Palumbo) pass from Quinn), :51

Commanders – Toole 66 pass from Julia Clark (Northwest) (pass failed), :34

Joseph Santoliquito is an award-winning sportswriter who has been covering high school football since 1992 and is the president of the Boxing Writers Association of America. Follow EasternPAFootball.com on Twitter @EPAFootball.

First Team
Kadence Johnson, Archbishop Carroll
Amber Rothley, Archbishop Ryan
Bree Gavaghan, Archbishop Ryan
Jaelyn Stintsman, Conwell-Egan
Olivia Della Vecchio, Conwell-Egan
Grace Smith, St. Hubert’s
Ali Kaltenbacher, Lansdale Catholic
Jenna Kovacs, Lansdale Catholic
Mia Casey, Archbishop Wood
Brigid Johnson, Archbishop Wood
Ava Grace Bradley, Archbishop Wood
Macie Kennedy, Archbishop Wood

Second-Team
Joie McFarlane, Archbishop Carroll
Amaiya Thurmond, Archbishop Ryan
Kylee Martin, Archbishop Ryan
Madison Fagioli, Cardinal O’Hara
Hailey Sarzynski, Conwell-Egan
Sarah Beck, Conwell-Egan
Fran Simeone, Conwell-Egan
Brianna Jackson, Conwell-Egan
Avery Becker, Little Flower
Jala Royster-McRae, Neumann-Goretti
Regan Moore, St. Hubert’s
Paige Savage, Archbishop Wood
Aziyah Gilbert-Snead, West Catholic

Third-Team
Kayla Morris, Archbishop Ryan
Finley Miller, St. Hubert’s
Meg Cantz, Nazareth Academy
Anna Zoryea, Conwell-Egan
Maya Boyer Mayes, West Catholic
Mae Kennedy, Archbishop Wood

PHILADELPHIA, PA — No one wanted to leave. Gwynedd Mercy Academy team and their adjoining contingent of family and friends filled the last sprinkle of sunlight on a nasty, sticky Monday basking in the gated side lot of the Eagles’ Jefferson Health Training Complex.

They took selfies and team shots, winning stage shots, and photos upon photos of a special award that will never be given out again—the Eagles award as Pennsylvania flag football state champions for another year.

With the PIAA officially making girls’ flag football a varsity sport throughout the state in 2027, Monday marked the last time the girls’ state championship would be played at the Eagles’ complex, and the last time the Eagles award would be issued.

It seemed fitting with this special Gwynedd Mercy team and the singular bond this group formed over the last four years would get it, since perhaps no other team may ever be as dominant in the coming years as this 2026 GMA team.

The Monarchs placed an exclamation point on a priceless, poignant season that was as near perfect as perfect gets with a 33-13 victory over a very good, well-coached, and athletic Palumbo Academy squad in what was the last Pennsylvania Flag Football Championship under the NFL and the Eagles’ pilot program.

So, no one wanted to leave afterward because they did not want to leave each other.

“That’s why this is so tough for me,” said Monarchs’ junior Lily Walker, who scored two touchdowns, one on a 21-yard pass that proved to be the backbreaker for Palumbo at the end of the first half and the other on the second of three pick-sixes for GMA. “I missed playing in this game last year. I was at a soccer tournament, and it was one of the most regretful decisions I have ever made in my life. The girls on this team really took me in and keep me alive. I never wanted to miss this again.

“I made up for it. I knew we had to come out and be dogs. Palumbo was a very good team. We spent so much time together there is a bond with us. The emotion comes from how hard we work. We wanted to prove everyone wrong. There were a lot of people that said some things about us, and we wanted to prove people wrong. No one was going to take us down. I’ll always remember us sticking together. I’ll always remember how every girl on this team has each other’s backs. It’s probably why no one wants to leave.”

Throughout the last two years, Sophie Caufield was one of the most athletic players on the Monarchs. She bypassed a Division I soccer scholarship to Richmond to commit more time to flag football and is instead attending Michigan State.

She made a decisive interception in GMA’s PA state championship victory over Lansdale Catholic last season and had two pick sixes on Monday, one a 24-yard TD return in the first quarter bookended by a 25-yard pick six in the fourth.

Against North Penn in the Monarchs’ threepeat win as Suburban Champions, it was Caufield who dove through the air looking like Lynn Swann between two defenders to take down a sideline pass setting up a touchdown.

“I lost my passion for soccer, and I knew nothing about football when I joined the (GMA) flag team my sophomore year,” Caufield said. “There is no other team I was on like this. We are so supportive of one another. We have a few weeks to graduation, and most seniors want to leave, but I want to stay, that’s how much I feel about these girls. I’ll miss our cheers. I hate to be on the other side when we do them. I’ll miss the closeness of everyone.”

Perhaps hit hardest was GMA’s winning quarterback, Keira Quinn, the Maxwell Club national high school flag football Player of the Year. This last month has been difficult for Quinn, playing for her father the last time, GMA head coach Tim Quinn. Each game was a winding ticker to when Keira would be wearing a GMA jersey for the last time.

“This is the last of Gwynedd flag for me,” said Keira, pushing back tears. “I played here as a freshman. I met my best friend here on this field. Palumbo and Coach (Chris) Donnelly are amazing. This is a great way to go out. I wish we could stay here forever. It’s hard. Most seniors want to graduate and leave. If it were up to the seniors on this team, we would stay here forever. It’s why right now, with the all the years playing with everyone here, it’s so hard that it is ending.”

Tim Quinn was the last one to leave the field. The Monarchs’ coach received his accolades, but his attention was elsewhere as he walked off the field—thinking about his players, his daughter Keira, and a group of girls who he will not forget.

“We finally learned how to sing,” said Tim, laughing. “When we started our cheers, no one could sing a tune. I never imaged this, and how this would turn out. When Terry Fasano, the former athletic director at Gwynedd Mercy, asked me three times to coach and I turned her down each time. I finally gave in. Gwynedd has been a blessing in our lives. We jumped into the fire and look where the game is.

“People get the wrong impression of our girls, because of our cheers. The first year we were terrible (with the cheers), and the second year, we had some girls who could carry a tune. By the third year, we had great harmony.”

That, obviously, translated on to the field.

Despite the score, Palumbo made it a competitive game. After the Monarchs scored on their opening possession, and Caufield’s first pick-six made it 13-0, that’s where the score sat until late in the second quarter, when Quinn hit Walker for a 19-0 lead with four seconds left in the half.

“I’m really proud of my kids,” said Donnelly, who has done wonders with the Palumbo program. “The reality is, Gwynedd is a great team. We have a super team, and we have a solid freshman, sophomore and junior classes. We will miss players like Tasci (Xavier), and Raniyah (Bennett), Bea (Kaeli), Ava (McKee) and Reece (Jackson-Roane). They can’t be replaced. But we like where we are going.”

Perhaps the most gifted player on the field was Xavier, who will be going to Chestnut Hill College to play flag football. The speedster does not run so much as she glides when she had the ball.

“Although we fell short, I am very proud of our team,” Xavier said. “That last touchdown at the end of the half killed us; just the wrong play at the wrong time. This has been a journey, and I wouldn’t have done it with anyone else.”

A sentiment certainly shared on both sides of the field on Monday.

Scoring Summary

Palumbo 0 0 7 6-13

Gwynedd Mercy Academy 13 6 0 14-33

1st Quarter

GM – Shiloh Okiro 25 pass from Keira Quinn (Rowan Cunningham pass from Quinn), 9:07

GM –Sophie Caufield 24 INT return (pass failed), 6:29

2nd Quarter

GM – Lily Walker 21 pass from Quinn (pass failed), :04

4th Quarter

P – Reece Jackson-Roane 1 pass from Anyla Byrd (Raniyah Bennett pass from Byrd), 10:12

GM – Walker 35 INT return (Okiro pass from Quinn), 3:10

GM – Caufield 25 INT return (Walker pass from Quinn), 1:26

P – Tasci Xavier 41 pass from Byrd (pass failed), :25

Joseph Santoliquito is a hall of fame, award-winning sportswriter who has been covering high school football since 1992 and is the president of the Boxing Writers Association of America. Follow EasternPAFootball.com on Twitter @EPAFootball [twitter.com].

SPRINGFIELD, PA — They looked lost and beaten, against a Conwell-Egan team that perpetually refused to die all season long. Palumbo was 59 yards and 75 seconds away from losing its third attempt in four years at winning the first flag football city championship for a Philadelphia Public School team.

Only no one reminded this version of the Griffins about history not being on their side. No one told Anyla Byrd, Bea Kaeli, Reece Jackson-Roane, Raniyah Bennett, Tasci Xavier, Anna Bracali, Neveah Austin and Griffins coach Chris Donnelly that this was how it was supposed to end—staring up at an empty clock with a blank, strained face that said they lost again.

The Griffins refused to hear those echoes.

Instead, Byrd marched them up the field, and on a dull, grey Wednesday afternoon at Cardinal O’Hara, Byrd found the brightest bouquet on the field, Kaeli’s glaring red hair, flash across the middle of the field, hitting Kaeli in stride for a 19-yard touchdown with 19 seconds left for a dramatic 19-14 victory over Philadelphia Catholic League champion Conwell-Egan.

It marks the first time ever in the brief four-year history of girls’ flag football that a Philadelphia Public League team won the city title.

Palumbo will now play Gwynedd Mercy Academy for the Pennsylvania Flag Football Championship on Monday, May 18, at 5:30 at the Eagles’ Jefferson Health Training Complex.

All Donnelly kept repeating was “first time city champs, first time city champs,” as she gathered her team around for her postgame address.

“This means a lot,” said Donnelly, who lost to Archbishop Wood the first two times, and failed to win the Public League last season in a Pub semifinal loss to Audenreid. “To win this, I can’t say enough about the seniors. For these seniors to be a part of this, it’s extraordinary. We played Conwell-Egan in the preseason and beat them, 13-12. That actually boosted the confidence of our kids. They knew they could do it, because they did it before.”

In the Public League championship, Palumbo was down by 11 points with under five minutes to play and beat Audenreid, 26-24.

“Today it was Bea who kept coming through for us,” Donnelly said.

But not after Bracali took in a 20-yard bomb with 1:15 to play, after the Griffins were seemingly coming apart after a sack followed by a 10-yard penalty.

From there, Byrd directed the Griffins the remaining 39 yards on consecutive completions to the speedy Xavier and back-to-back completions to Kaeli for the game-winning score on a crossing pattern.

“I had to rebound, and one thing I always tell myself is charge it to the game,” said Bryd, a junior. “I didn’t want to let my team down. If my teammates sees me down, they get down. I was looking for Bea. Once I see that red hair, I’ll find her. There was no doubt. We wanted to get in those books. I to slow down, breathe, and not panic. Like I said, charge it to the game.

“This puts us in the books.

Kaeli almost didn’t play in the game. She suffered partial tear of ligaments in her left thumb during the Public League championship. There was some question whether she would play in the city championship game.

Kaeli admitted herself she had doubt.

“I had no doubt in my team,” said Kaeli, who is going to Pitt and played for Palumbo’s basketball and soccer teams. “I’ll be honest, I didn’t feel any pain. I get a lot of teasing about my hair (laughs). I get Ice Spice a lot. I always want the ball. I trust Anyla with everything. This is a first. We’re the first Public League champion to win a city championship.”

Palumbo charged out to a 13-0 lead on Byrd touchdown passes to Reece Jackson-Roane and Kaeli, but Conwell-Egan, as it did all season, mounted a strong response, scoring on consecutive drives in the fourth quarter when Hailey Zarzynski ran one in from two yards out and Sarah Beck hauled in an eight-yard pass from Olivia DellaVecchio, then followed with the extra point from Fran Simeone, putting the Eagles up, 14-13, with 1:56 to play.

That set the stage for the Griffins’ comeback.

It started well, when Byrd hit Xavier for 17 yards and a first down to the Palumbo 31, but that was followed by a Conwell-Egan sack by Anna Zoryea and a 10-yard Palumbo penalty, pushing the Griffins back to their 21.

On second-and-19, Byrd unfurled a bomb to Bracali, who got behind the Conwell-Egan defense, and Byrd finished it with three successive completions for the game-winning score.

“These girls have been through a lot,” Donnelly said. “I’m proud of them for they’ve done and how they came back. There was never a doubt they would.”

Scoring Summary

Academy of Palumbo 0 7 6 6-19

Conwell-Egan 0 0 0 14-14

2nd Quarter

P – Reece Jackson-Roane 6 pass from Anyla Byrd (Raniyah Bennett pass from Byrd), :14

3rd Quarter

P – Bea Kaeli 5 pass from Byrd (pass failed), 3:20

4th Quarter

CE – Hailey Zarzynski 2 run (Sarah Beck pass from Fran Simeone), 9:20

CE – Beck 8 pass from Olivia DellaVecchio (Beck pass from Simeone), 1:56

P – Kaeli 19 pass from Byrd (pass failed), :19.1

Joseph Santoliquito is a hall of fame, award-winning sportswriter who has been covering high school football since 1992 and is the president of the Boxing Writers Association of America. Follow EasternPAFootball.com on Twitter @EPAFootball [twitter.com].

The Gwynedd Mercey Academy senior, streams of eye black streaking down her face from an emotional aftermath, seemed to do practically everything else, almost running her father, Monarchs’ coach Tim Quinn, out of his shorts.

Keira, the Maxwell Club national high school flag football player of the year, threw three touchdown passes and concluded her day with a 66-yard touchdown run off a bootleg in leading GMA to its third-straight Suburban championship with a 25-6 victory over a solid North Penn team, led by its own star, senior Amani Keys.

The Monarchs will now face the winner of the Philadelphia City Championship game between Palumbo and Conwell-Egan at the Eagles’ Jefferson Health Training Complex on Monday, May 18.

Though afterward, it was hard to tell whether Keira won or lost.

“This was not easy, this was my last time playing on this field,” said Keira, fighting back emotion. “I spent a lot of time on this field, and it’s probably why I’m fighting back some tears. We’re not done yet. North Penn was a very good team, and they had some great players and lot of friends are on that team. This is bittersweet, my senior year. So many memories have been built here.”

Keira’s exploits led to the funniest moment of the game, when she took off for a 66-yard touchdown run untouched down the GMA sideline on the first play of the fourth quarter.

Leading 18-6, on a pair of a touchdown passes to Rowan Cunningham and a first-quarter score to Reilly Graham, Keira reached the corner and turned up field. Her dad Tim tried keeping up, but almost stumbled when his shorts came sliding down his legs.

“I’m happy I was past him,” Keira said, laughing. “This is our third time in a championship.”

Under Keira, the Monarchs lost to Abington in the suburban semifinals as a freshman and she came back to beat Abington in her sophomore and junior years for the suburban championship, topping off her junior season with the Pennsylvania Flag Football Championship at the Eagles’ Jefferson Health Training Complex last year.

This season, with players like Cunningham, Graham, Lily Walker, who had an interception in the end zone, Ava Lapotosky, who saved a touchdown with a diving flag pull, and Shiloh Okiro, who intercepted the first pass of the game, Keira has possibly the best team she’s ever had around her.

“The last two games we played were highly competitive, between Spring-Ford and North Penn,” Tim Quinn said. “Both were well-coached teams, and North Penn did a great job today. This was a little bit of a civil war. I’m proud of all the girls I coached who played today. Amani Keys is tremendous. We had girls on our own sideline cheering for Amani. I told Keira before the game to go out and have fun.

“When she turned that corner on the sideline (on the 66-yard touchdown), I was so excited running that I almost lost my shorts (laughs). This is probably the fastest team we’ve ever had here, and Keira is the greatest quarterback in this area. She wants to leave a legacy. But we still have more work to do.”

Getting by North Penn was not easy, although GMA made it look easy on its first two possessions. After Okiro’s interception on the first play of the game, Keira Quinn directed a quick five-play, 52-yard drive that ended when she hit Cunningham for a 10-yard score.

Quinn hit Cunningham for a 49-yard reception, which led to the Monarchs second score, a Quinn-to-Graham 14-yard score.

GMA almost scored a third time near the end of the half, after Sophie Caufield made a spectacular catch jumping between two defenders to pull down a 14-yard reception. But time ran out with the Monarchs sitting at the North Penn 8.

“North Penn is a competitive team and I know how good they are,” Cunningham said. “We wanted to keep Amani and Tessa (Wieloch, a national-level player) in front of us, and matchup with someone shorter. Offensively, having Keira gives us an automatic advantage. We wanted to chunk it out and move the ball.

“We have seven girls who can score at any time. I have only lost once the last three years here. We have more to do. You can see the drive in everyone’s eyes.”

Keys was amazing. She made a game-high 9 catches for 97 yards—including an incredible one-handed catch in traffic during the third quarter.

“We know Gwynedd Mercy really well, and they were good on both sides of the ball,” said Keys, who will be playing flag football at Eastern University. “I thought we could be effective against them, and we came in pretty confident. It was hard losing, but at the of the day, we’re still family.”

It was an emotional ending for North Penn coach Kevin Zebluim, who saw his team make massive strides since they first began training in January. North Penn got in the Red Zone four times, with one drive resulting in a Laila Bentz 19-yard TD pass to Wieloch on the last play of the third quarter, and interception and two drives that ended on loss of downs.

“Amani is amazing, and she is a four-year starter and four-year captain and we will certainly miss her moving forward,” Zebluim said. “Seeing both these teams, it shows how much flag football has grown. We battled. It would have been interesting if we converted one of those two drives (that ended on loss of downs) for a touchdown, making it a one-score game. I told the girls afterward to keep working on getting better.”

After everyone cleared the field, the lone shadow walking off was Keira Quinn carrying the equipment bag, a chore usually reserved for a junior varsity or freshman player, showing she’s not too big to do everything.

Scoring Summary

North Penn 0 0 6 0-6

Gwynedd Mercy Academy 12 0 6 7-25

1st Quarter

GM – Rowan Cunningham 10 pass from Keira Quinn (pass failed), 8:24

GM – Reilly Graham 14 pass from Quinn (pass failed), 4:01

3rd Quarter

GM – Cunningham 6 pass from Quinn (pass failed), 4:03

NP – Tessa Wieloch 19 pass from Laila Bentz (pass failed), :00

4th Quarter

GM – Quinn 66 run (Lily Walker pass from Quinn), 11:47

Joseph Santoliquito is a hall of fame, award-winning sportswriter who has been covering high school football since 1992 and is the president of the Boxing Writers Association of America. Follow EasternPAFootball.com on Twitter @EPAFootball [twitter.com].