Bengals name four finalists for girls flag football award in Ohio

The Bengals revealed four finalists for the 2026 Bengals Girls Flag Football Athlete of the Year Award on July 14, and the group showed how quickly Ohio has built real depth in the sport. Penelope Bolinger of Saint Ursula Academy, Bella Heile of Badin High School, Charlotte Holm of Seton High School and Cheyenne Holmes of Spencer Center each paired big production with team success and work away from the field.

Bolinger’s résumé stood out immediately. She led Saint Ursula to the program’s first-ever state championship appearance and finished as the No. 1 player in Ohio by MaxPreps, throwing for 3,394 yards, 61 touchdowns and 312 completions. Her impact extended beyond the stat sheet, too, with volunteer work at youth flag camps giving her profile a community layer that matched the scale of her season.

Heile reached the finalists list on a different path, shifting from wide receiver to quarterback and helping Badin win a regional championship. She finished with 2,282 passing yards, 44 passing touchdowns and 15 interceptions on defense, a two-way line that showed how quickly top players in Ohio are becoming multi-skilled weapons. Holm offered another kind of production for Seton, piling up 3,042 passing yards and 59 touchdowns while helping the Saints go 23-5 across her first two varsity seasons.

Holmes brought the most varied stat line of the four. She produced 609 rushing yards and five rushing touchdowns, added 460 passing yards and 14 passing touchdowns, and made her mark on defense and special situations with 22 flag pulls, two interceptions, two sacks and 10 pass deflections. The mix underscored how the state’s best players are no longer defined by one position or one phase of the game.

The finalists also arrived against a bigger backdrop for Ohio flag football. The Ohio High School Athletic Association sanctioned girls flag football as a championship event beginning in spring 2026 after a July 17, 2025 announcement in Canton during NFL FLAG Championships week, and eight schools qualified for the inaugural state tournament at Tom Benson Hall of Fame Stadium on May 16, 2026. OHSAA said 162 high schools in Ohio sponsor girls flag football, while the Bengals said their 2025 season featured 350 student-athletes from 20 local schools, up from six in 2024, with the championship event held at Paycor Stadium.

That same pipeline has already produced visibility beyond this year’s finalists. Mount Notre Dame quarterback Evie Schoolfield had previously been named the Bengals’ nominee for the Maxwell High School Girls Flag Player of the Year after drawing eight college scholarship offers, another marker that Ohio girls flag football is producing players who look ready for the next level.