The Island Air Flag Football League hosted some very entertaining games over the weekend. Arguably the most intriguing was a surprising upset by a bottom club over a division frontrunner.
The Hammerhead Pirates were taken down by the PWC Ironmen 6-0. The Pirates have been locked in a battle with Doghouse for rights to the first seed in the East division all season. PWC have been struggling this season and even though Hammerheads were the overwhelming favourites to win this is why they play the game. Pirates came out a bit flat to start the game. They seemed to move the ball well with running back Phil O’Connor but the PWC defence always managed to stop them from scoring.
The first half was a defensive battle with neither team being able to find the end zone. In the second half PWC took a shock lead when quarterback Chris Lebeau found wide receiver Antonio Hanna who was able to get behind the Pirate defence to score a touchdown. Hanna then came up with another big play as he intercepted a Pirate throw stopping a Hammerheads attempt to respond. The Hammerheads just didn’t seem to have it going as they could not score and the PWC Ironmen held on to claim their second win of the season.
The first game of the day actually featured the DMS Hellcats against the Cox Colts. The newly formed Colts have been in good form over the last couple of weeks pulling off some great victories over other veteran teams. The Colts got off to a great start when back-up QB Taj Haye found Chester Hurlstone with a short pass, which the speedy RB turned into a long TD run to the crowd’s delight. Dms now down did only what champions do: respond immediately.
QB Jacob ‘Frecko’ Ebanks went to work and hit his receivers down field. Hellcats then took the lead when RB Oliver ‘Lipton Tea’ Parker ran the ball in from 10 yards out with Clay ‘Toast’ Coleman providing a great block. Wanting to make up for the early mistakes the Hellcat defence came out with pressure, forcing Haye to make an errant throw which super safety Renford ‘Mufasa’ Barnes intercepted. With a short field Frecko Ebanks went straight back to work eventually finding Clay ‘Toast’ Coleman for the second Hellcat TD to complete the half. In the second half the Hellcat defence continued its relentless pressure forcing the Colts to punt. With a mix of run and pass dms easily moved the ball down field with Nikolai ‘Uncle Nino’ Hill catching the final TD effectively silencing the pro-Colt crowd. Final score dms 20, Cox 6.
The third of the game of the day in the Island Air Cayman Islands Flag Football League pitted one of the most veteran teams against the youngest team in the league as the Calabash Soldiers faced off against Maples.
From the start of the game, Calabash showed their veteran experience. The Soldiers forced Maples into some costly turnovers which lead to great field position and touchdown catches by WRs Peter Whittaker and Leslie Harvey from QB Glenn Duran. On the defensive side, Calabash was lead by brothers Troy and Boris Brady who harassed the offence all day and allowed interceptions by Jamaal Anderson and Glenn Duran.
Maples showed some flashes of brilliance that better days and more offence is coming in a few years with some creative plays from rookie QB Tyler Lee and some other newcomers. The final score was Calabash 14, Maples 0.
Look for the Calabash Soldiers to try and gain some momentum for the playoffs tomorrow Saturday 10 September as they face off against the Burger King Panthers for the second time this season. The first game was a thriller that came down to the last second. Calabash won the first time around but expect Burger King, lead by Brendon Malice and Ryan Smith, to seek revenge.
In the final game of the day the Doghouse Bulldogs toppled the Panthers in a well-played defensive battle. On the opening possession Doghouse QB Chris Spigner moved the Bulldogs into scoring position but the Burger King defence came up big when Malice intercepted a Spigner pass to deny Doghouse a score.
The rest of the half was controlled by both defences with Malice, Smith and Rod Taylor leading the Panthers while Dillon Claassens and Kevin Zimmer stepped up their game for the Bulldogs. In the second half the defensive battle continued until Doghouse finally got on the scoreboard when Spigner made a nice 20-yard run and made a lateral pass to Chris Smith who ran the final 15 yards for the go-ahead score.
Burger King took possession and moved the ball into Doghouse territory for a chance to tie the game up but an errant throw on fourth down by Panthers QB Neil Clements gave Doghouse a hard fought 6-0 victory. The win puts the Bulldogs in a great position to claim the first seed in the East division which would earn them a bye in the opening round of the playoffs.
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