Liberty flag football takes fourth in state
Published 1:30 pm Monday, February 16, 2026
Liberty High School’s flag football team went from playing the very first game of the season to one game away from the state championship, and all that stood in their way was the Seattle Prep Panthers in the 3A semifinals.
The Patriots came up just short of their goal of winning a state title, falling to the Panthers 21-14 on Feb. 13.
“It’s been fantastic with this group of girls. I can’t say enough about this group of girls, our coaches, everybody has played a part in this run. It’s been fun,” head coach Brent Kawaguchi said.
In the first year of flag football being sanctioned, Liberty was given the No. 6 seed in the state tournament. The Patriots dominated Monroe, 49-14, in the first round and defeated Eastside Catholic, 14-7, en route to the semifinal.
Kawaguchi likened the Patriots’ postseason run to the Seahawks’ postseason run. Unfortunately the Liberty Patriots had a similar reality to the New England team that shares the same name.
“It’s been like a parallel to the Seahawks’ ride. Listening to [Seahawks coach] Mike Macdonald talk gives me ideas of things to talk about. I kind of talk like him. He’s short and sweet and that’s what he says,” Kawaguchi said.
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Seattle Prep came in with momentum of their own. The highest seed in any semifinal in the state had just beaten the No. 2 seed in Roosevelt in the quarterfinals round.
The Patriots took on Seattle Prep at Federal Way Memorial Field, which had all the pageantry of a state tournament with the signage, attention and energy that a stage like that brings. The girls soaked up every moment since they arrived at the stadium.
Liberty didn’t take long to find the endzone as on the second play of the game, senior Alison Frank caught her first pass and used her speed to outrun the Prep defense. Liberty took a 7-0 lead and just based on the first two plays, it looked like their momentum would continue.
“It was really exciting, everyone was really cheerful,” Frank said.
Seattle Prep’s defense really stood tall for the rest of the game, holding Liberty to just two touchdowns. Seattle Prep drew level with 8:50 left in the first half on a touchdown pass on fourth-and-goal to Audrey Popp, and the two sides went to halftime tied at 7-7.
To start in the second half, Seattle Prep drove the length of the field and quarterback Amelie LaPorte-Manahan found Eva Cray wide open down the right sideline for the go-ahead score. Liberty, which hadn’t really threatened Seattle Prep, was now behind the eight ball.
But the Patriots found a way thanks to Frank, who was a common target for Patriots quarterback Devlyn Bird. Frank caught a one-yard touchdown pass for her second of the game and with 10:00 left in the game, Liberty found some momentum.
“Ally is our big play threat. She’s a quiet worker,” Kawaguchi said. “Yesterday (Feb. 11) we had the all league meeting and voted for all league players. I hope she gets her due. She’s been a great teammate and player on this team,” Kawaguchi said.
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Seattle Prep looked like they were about to be stopped three different times on their eventual game winning drives, but Liberty was dinged by the officials for roughing the passer three separate times. Prep took advantage of those penalties and scored the game winning touchdown with 42.3 second left, sealing Liberty’s fate. “I thought Seattle Prep did a good job exploiting where we were weak. Hats off to Seattle Prep. They had a good game plan. Where we usually stopped them on third down, they were getting five to six yard gains. But the defense played hard and we have no regrets,” Kawaguchi said.
The Patriots would then take on White River in the third place game, but fell to the Hornets 42-28 to take fourth in the inaugural WIAA state flag football tournament.
“The WIAA has made this really a special event. It’s just awesome. I can’t believe it is the first year. It is just going to get better and better I think,” Kawaguchi said.
