Flag Football: Set on Deeper Playoff Run, Duran’s Calm Leadership Propels Denver South

AURORA — One look at Iris Duran’s MaxPreps page drums up the idea of a high school athlete marked by intensity.

A senior quarterback in flag football who moonlights as a softball player in her spare time during the fall season (if there is any), Duran also features on the Denver South girls basketball team during the winter season. Larger than life characters like Deion Sanders and Bo Jackson come to mind – fierce competitors with a “no days off” mentality that led to success in multiple sports. Gaudy statistics like Duran’s 2024 marks of 47 touchdowns up against just one interception also introduce thoughts of enigmatic personalities like Aaron Rodgers or Tom Brady.

Duran is like almost none of those people.

Though Brady is her favorite quarterback (okay, they do share both overall greatness and “underrated mobility,” as her coach, Tori Elmore, puts it), it’s not a particular intensity or relentlessness that drives her to brilliance as the captain of a Denver South girls flag football team with its eyes on 5A glory. Rather, it’s a calm and cool confidence – a “nonchalance,” in Elmore’s words – that’s the not-so-secret sauce to Duran’s success.

“Iris is the calmest person out there,” Elmore said about her field general. “I don’t think anything has ever rattled her. It doesn’t matter if she makes a bad throw. It’s on to the next play.”

Don’t be fooled. We’re not talking about carelessness. Much the opposite, in fact. We’re talking about confidence coupled with effective decision-making and undergirded by maturity. That pure leadership from the most important position on the field has the Ravens sitting at 8-1 on the season with sights set on a deep run in the 5A playoffs.

The flag football season is well underway, with the regular season set to conclude on Oct. 11 and state playoffs to begin Oct. 14. Championship games in 5A and 4A are set for Oct. 25. In last year’s first-ever CHSAA flag football state championships, Mountain Vista won the 5A crown, while Mountain View won it all in 4A.

Losing to ThunderRidge 33-6 in the round of 16 last year left Duran and Elmore both wondering what could have been for Denver South. Asked what would make this season a successful one, Duran’s answer was simple.

“Getting farther in the playoffs,” she said.

Some might say she’s soft-spoken, but we’ll call it efficiency – a trait that spreads beyond her words and into her game. After last season’s 47-touchdown, one-interception effort that included more than 2,000 passing yards and all-state honorable mention recognition, she has somehow become more efficient in 2025, her senior campaign. Through nine games this fall, Duran has completed 67.2% of her passes (an uptick of about six percentage points from last year) for nearly 1,700 yards and 34 touchdowns – an increase of 50 yards per game from last season.

Just like her leadership, Duran’s production is steady. She has completed between 13 and 24 passes in every game this season and has notched a touchdown pass in all but one of them. One of her best performances of the year so far came in a close 27-21 loss to Valor Christian, when she was 23-of-33 for a season high 274 yards and three touchdowns in addition to a season-long completion of 50 yards. Since that defeat, Denver South has rattled off five straight victories by a minimum margin of 20 points.

For Duran, it’s not about individual stats or accomplishments. It’s about getting everyone involved in the winning effort. Six different Ravens have double-digit receptions on the season. Four of them have at least 30 catches, tallying between 353 and 485 total yards. That’s what we call distribution.

“One of the best things about our team is that we have a lot of different receivers,” Elmore said. “Iris takes it upon herself to get everybody the ball. That’s a great thing for a quarterback. She wants everyone involved.”

Duran’s love of football started from a young age. She grew up watching football weekly with her dad, Troy, which sparked interest in the sport. As softball improved her throwing skills, Duran eventually found her way into the quarterback position (her lefthandedness also a contributing factor). Involved with local recreation leagues and national flag football programs as a kid, she was used to being one of the only girls on her teams. She remembers one of her current teammates at Denver South as one of the only other girls she’d face on the field growing up.

Fast forward several years and the sport of girls flag football has exploded. It’s now a sanctioned high school sport in 17 states including Colorado. It’s even becoming an official Olympic sport at the 2028 Summer Olympic Games in Los Angeles.

Asked why she thinks the sport has grown among girls, Duran mentioned “giving everyone the same chance and opportunity to play.”

Her game backs up her answer. Already noted was her unique ability to distribute the ball to different receivers, but that’s not just an inherent quarterbacking skill – it’s indicative of a desire that every last person on her team would experience the joy of the sport she loves. When Denver South builds a large lead – something it has become accustomed to doing – Duran initiates communication with her coach to determine which players will get offensive touches from that point forward.

“That’s a leadership quality I think people underestimate about her, how much she wants everyone on the team to succeed,” Elmore said.

Leadership initiative in communication is not only a key facet of Duran’s game but a necessity in her life. Juggling multiple sports in the same season demands constant conversation with her coaches about practice schedules, game availability and so forth.

“Iris is one of the best at communicating with coaches about where she’s going to be and what she’s doing,” Elmore said. “That’s another piece that a good athlete has to have.”

For Duran, playing multiple sports is a no-brainer. Certain athletic movements translate from sport to sport – her outfield play helping her quarterbacking arm, for instance – but it’s bigger than that.

“You can have more opportunities if you play more sports, and you can make more friends,” she said as an encouragement to other teenagers who might be considering specializing in a particular sport.

“She has made connections on and off the field with a lot of teammates,” said Elmore.

For Duran, success is a byproduct of enjoyment – not the other way around. Enjoying the people around her one moment at a time, she’s not growing up too fast as is the danger for many successful high school athletes. She’s never thinking too far into the future or pressing to become someone she’s not. Even though sports are a huge part of her life, they’re not everything. A huge music fan, she enjoys DJing and looks forward to attending college in a big city where there are plentiful concert venues to frequent.

Comfort in who she is gives Duran that cool and calm confidence which makes her a uniquely capable quarterback.

While some other quarterbacks may emulate a certain signal-caller they enjoy watching, Duran is unequivocally herself. She knows her limits and stays within her strengths (and often, the pocket). Mastery of the playbook is something she admits hasn’t come naturally to her, but practice makes perfect.

When questioned about Duran’s growth from her junior to senior season, Elmore immediately cited her knowledge of the playbook.

“She does understand the playbook a lot more,” Elmore said. “We’ll set up and she knows exactly what we’re about to do. She studies a lot.”

It’s that true understanding of the game that Duran thinks people in general haven’t quite yet grasped when it comes to girls flag football.

“I think a lot of people think girls don’t know football and how to run the plays or read defenses,” Duran said, “but they do know.”

Duran certainly knows. She’s always counting safeties, checking for man and zone defensive packages, and taking advantage of the speed of her receivers – who she says beat their defenders more often than not. Duran’s intelligent quarterbacking has propelled the team to an extremely successful season thus far.

Denver South is coming off a lopsided 42-0 victory against Northfield, handing the Nighthawks just their second defeat of the year. Currently sixth in the CHSAA 5A girls flag football rankings, the 8-1 Ravens next head to 2-7 Regis Jesuit on Wednesday.

When it comes to championship aspirations, Elmore believes the sky is the limit for Denver South.

“We’re an incredibly deep team, both offensively and defensively,” Elmore said. “We have playmakers everywhere. As long as we play our game, I think we should go far.”

It all starts with Duran, the playmaker that gets the other playmakers the ball. Elmore takes a page from Duran’s playbook when it comes to describing her belief in the signal-caller – only a few words are needed.

“Iris is a darn good quarterback.”