A dream come true: Winning a world championship in flag football everything North Ridgeville's Isabella Geraci thought it would be

Isabella Geraci had all but given up her dream of playing high-level football, but in a matter of months, the North Ridgeville grad found herself competing — and winning — on the world's biggest stage. As Geraci reflects on her experience capturing gold with the U.S. Women's Flag Football National Team, she is as confident as ever she belongs on the football field. "All my life, I've just wanted to play football at the highest level I could," Geraci said. "I always thought I was going to play in college and play tackle (football) and be the first girl to do that. Well, that never happened and then I just focused on basketball. … To now have this route where I can compete on the world stage is amazing. I always have to step back and think about how grateful I am to be here." Geraci, 23, was a standout athlete for the Rangers, particularly on the basketball court. She graduated as the program's all-time leading scorer and was named 2018 Lorain County Miss Basketball. As a track and field athlete, she finished fourth in the state in Division I high jump in 2018 and sixth in long jump. She continued her basketball career at Cleveland State before finishing at the University of South Carolina Upstate, where she was also on the track and field team. But Geraci's love of football — something she's felt since she was a young girl — never waned, and as a lifelong competitor, she wasn't ready to accept the end of a football career she never had the chance to really start. The road to gold In March, Geraci participated in USA Football's women's national team trials after having played flag football for less than a year. She made the 12-woman roster after training camp in late May, and by August she was traveling to Finland to represent the U.S. in the IFAF World Championships. "Once we got to training camp in Charlotte, (North Carolina), right before we left for Finland, it started feeling really real, because the speed of everything made it seem like I never even got to take it in, and so by that point, I was like, 'OK, this is really happening,'" Geraci said. "I get to travel with my team, represent my country and play in the biggest tournament for flag football." This year's was the largest since the creation of the tournament in 2002, with 32 men's national teams participating and 23 women's teams, and USA Football called the tournament "the largest and most significant in the sport's history." The two-time defending world champion U.S. women entered ranked No. 1. The Americans breezed through the group stage, outscoring opponents 184-24 in four games. The closest call came against Spain, an 18-14 victory, and after another dominating performance against Austria in the semifinals, the only team standing between the U.S. and gold was second-ranked Mexico. "We were really focused on looking in the mirror at ourselves," Geraci said. "When we're at training camp and we line up against each other, we know as an offense we're about to play against the best defense, which is our defense, and we give ourselves the hardest competition. I think by doing that and training so hard, we're ready for whoever's against us." Mexico is a three-time IFAF World Championships winner, having brought home the gold in 2004, 2008 and 2012, along with winning the gold medal at the 2022 World Games in Birmingham, Alabama. "That was everyone's favorite question, 'Do you think you're going to play Mexico in the final?'" Geraci said. "It's always us and Mexico that people want to know about, but Spain gave us a really good game. I don't think we were ready for that, but it was good to get that test before ending up in the gold game." The U.S. defeated Mexico 31-18 to complete the three-peat and return home as champions. For her first major international competition, Geraci made quite an impact. In the championship game, she had six catches for 45 yards and a touchdown — one of four Americans to score in the finals. She finished the tournament with 39 catches on 52 targets, the third-most on the team, and was the only player with zero drops. She totaled 464 yards, second on the team, and had five touchdowns and seven extra points. She led the team in receiving yards in three of its eight games. "There were a few things that were definitely a learning experience, where I thought, 'OK, I could have done that differently,'" Geraci said. "You'll practice and practice and run through in-game scenarios, but you're never in the scenario until it happens in a game. … But I think I played pretty well overall. … I'm happy with how it all happened." The U.S. finished with the second-best scoring offense in the tournament, averaging 46.25 points per game. Mexico had 49.5. The Americans also had the third-most passing yards per game (257.25) behind Mexico (265.75) and Austria (318.33), while U.S. quarterback Vanita Krouch led the tournament in passing touchdowns with 21. "Going into it, we were pretty focused on just worrying about us. It didn't matter what team we were up against," Geraci said. She couldn't say enough about her off-the-field experience in Finland, too, rating it "all around 10 out of 10." "It was so beautiful," she said. Participating teams stayed at the Pajulahti Olympic & Paralympic Training Center in Lahti, and Geraci said staying at the complex with the rest of the teams gave the atmosphere a "college campus vibe." "You'd be walking around and you'd see other teams, you'd eat with the other teams at the cafeteria, so it's really cool," she said. "You get to know them a little better. … Some (teams), it was their first year, so aside from the competition standpoint, it's just great to be friendly because we just want to continue to grow (the sport)." Finding her peace As a lifelong athlete, few sports have provided as much fulfillment for Geraci as playing tackle football, and when her path finally brought her back to the sport, the question lingered: Would flag football be as gratifying as tackle football? "It's fulfilling in different ways," Geraci said. "Tackle was cool because there were so many people at that point that were saying, 'Girls can't play football,' and it was fulfilling because I got to prove all these people wrong, prove myself right and just enjoy and love the sport and the camaraderie of having a bunch of brothers that I would've never had if I didn't play." Now, Geraci has her sisters in flag football, and better yet, she said, she gets to be the "girl in football" for others to look up to, something she didn't have when she was younger. "With this sport, women really have a chance to go far and do something with it that I didn't have in tackle," she said. "To have that now is amazing. … They each have their own pluses, but I think with flag football, it's really fulfilling because, as a woman in football, you have somewhere to go." Geraci learned a lot about the game after finally competing in her first major tournament. She also learned a lot about herself and her passion for the sport. "I'm pretty level-headed, (but playing) basketball, I wasn't really like that," she said. "I remember I would get so worked up about certain plays and certain mistakes, but in football, I just feel at peace. If I do mess up, I just brush it off and move on, and I never really had that with basketball. I would just get in my head and get so frustrated about stuff, but I just feel like I'm at peace because I know this is what I love doing. "Basketball felt like a job and with football, it's just a game. I grew up on the game in my front yard and now I still get to do that with my friends — my friends that live across the country — and we just get to meet up and play football. It's just surreal. I'm very thankful." In the offseason, Geraci plays on a club team, O.B.B., with her teammates from USA Football, Ashley Edwards and Madison Fulford, traveling around the country playing in tournaments — often against some of her other USA Football teammates. And with flag football set to make its Olympic debut in Los Angeles in 2028, Geraci sees endless opportunity in a sport that was all but closed off to her as a teenager. "(It's) something, as an athlete, I've always wanted," she said of competing in the Olympics. "Most athletes, that's a top goal for them is to compete in the Olympics and win gold for their country, so now that's possible. "I love that girls can grow up loving football now." Contact Marissa McNees at (440) 329-7135 or ctsports@chroniclet.com.