BOYERTOWN — While girls flag football has a relatively short history as a sanctioned sport in the Philadelphia-area, this year’s Gwynedd Mercy group is trying to put its stamp on it.
The Monarchs surpassed Abington’s area-record 18-game win streak earlier this week with a victory over Villa Joseph Marie and added another win Thursday with a 42-13 victory over Boyertown to make it 20 wins in a row.
The reigning Pennsylvania state champions haven’t lost a game since a title game loss in 2024 and are gearing up for another deep postseason run as they wind down their regular season, striving to become the first back-to-back champs in the half decade of girls flag football.
“We just keep rolling because we have that fight,” said senior co-captain and quarterback Keira Quinn. “We love how we felt last year, and we just want to repeat. … I think that our fight is harder this year. We really see the opportunity in front of us, and we just want to go get it.”
Quinn, who was honored the Maxwell Football Club 2025 Girls National Flag Football Player of the Year in January, passed for six touchdowns in Thursday’s game, including five in the first half when she found five different receivers for scores.
Short touchdowns passes to sophomore Ava Lapotosky and junior Lily Walker put the Monarchs ahead 14-0 after a quarter of play. Quinn started the scoring in the second quarter by intercepting a pass and going 58 yards for a touchdown.
She found sophomore Shiloh Okiro (15 yards), sophomore Reilly Graham (35 yards) and senior Sophie Caufield (21 yards) before half to make it 42-0 Gwynedd at the break. Quinn added another 23-yard touchdown pass to Graham in the third quarter.
“I just trust all of my teammates,” Quinn said. “If I put the ball in their hands, I know they’re going to score. I just have a lot of confidence in them.”
“Different people step up all the time,” added junior co-captain Rowan Cunningham, who caught one of the conversions.
“Every girl understands that they’re here to play a role, and we all fit into a role on this team. And I think it’s so nice to see everyone step up in different ways each game.”
Defensively, Quinn and Lapotosky were the top flag pullers for Gwynedd with Okiro, Quinn and Caufield each intercepting passes.
The Monarchs are now 7-0 this season following last year’s 13-0 undefeated campaign and a 12-1 mark the season before that included 12 straight victories before a loss to Archbishop Wood in the Pennsylvania championship.
Thursday’s dominant result was par for the course as Gwynedd has outscored its opponents 306-45 on the year with the closest margin of victory a 41-14 win over Spring-Ford.
“We’re not result focused,” Monarchs coach Tim Quinn said. “We’re not focused on the score. What we’re focused on is trying to be better every day, every rep in what we’re doing. … The girls are motivated by the streak, they’re motivated in that they want to be the champs. They want to be there again.
“It’s not what everyone else is looking at. They understand the personal reward in trying to be great.”
Boyertown (4-4) scored on its first drive of the second half after forcing a Gwynedd three-and-out. Freshman Paige Stankina caught a 12-yard score from senior Callie Wieber. Senior Karolina Jaronski snagged a 14-yard touchdown pass from Wieber in the fourth. The Bears, who came in having won four of their last five, also got strong outings from senior Zoey Quay and sophomore Alexis Shimukonas.
The Bears close out their regular season Monday night at Norristown. The Monarchs finish their regular season at home against Pennridge.
“It’s focus and preparation,” Cunningham said. “Everyone makes mistakes. We gotta fix even the tiny ones, and then hopefully we come out strong Monday, finish our regular season at home strong.”
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Scoring Summary
Gwynedd Mercy 14 28 7 0-49
Boyertown 0 0 7 6-13
1st Quarter
GM – Ava Lapotosky 1 pass from Keira Quinn (Ava Lapotosky pass from Keira Quinn)
GM – LIly Walker 1 pass from Keira Quinn (Rowan Callahan pass from Keira Quinn)
2nd Quarter
GM – Keira Quinn 58 INT return (pass fail)
GM – Shiloh Okiro 15 pass from Keira Quinn (Quinn run)
GM – Reilly Graham 35 pass from Keira Quinn (Ava Lapotosky pass from Keira Quinn)
GM – Sophia Caulfield 21 pass from Keira Quinn (Reilly Graham pass from Keira Quinn)
3rd Quarter
BT – Paige Stankina12 pass from Callie Webber (Makayla Piazza pass from Callie Webber)
GM – Reilly Graham 23 pass from Keira Quinn (Lily Walker pass from Keira Quinn)
4th Quarter
BT – Karolina Jaronski 12 pass from Callie Webber (pass fail)
