The Calabash Soldiers last won a flag football title years ago under a different name. Though much of the team has changed, hopes are high for a repeat championship run.
Calabash are in action this Saturday, 17 September, in the Island Air Flag Football League playoffs put on by the Cayman Islands Flag Football Association. The Ed Bush field in West Bay will see the 6-6 Soldiers battle the 7-5 Hammerheads Pirates at 5pm.
Team sponsor and two-way stalwart Sean Moyle said his club has the potential to dethrone reigning champions the dms Hellcats.
“Any team can win on any Saturday,” Mr. Moyle said. “If any team can beat the Hellcats it’s us, it’s proven. Out of the last four times we’ve played, we beat them like three times. We’re sort of known as the ‘Bad News Bears’ around the league. We embrace that and we like to excite the crowd. I look forward to winning a championship, hopefully as soon as this year.
“As the owner and operator of Calabash Courier Service, this is my second year sponsoring the team,” he said. “I’m proud of the guys. It’s always a pleasure to sponsor a team in the league.”
Calabash heads into Saturday’s contest as the No. 3 seed in the West division. On paper the side boasts the league’s second-best defence (allowing 93 points) and the fourth-ranked offence (scoring 170 points). Personnel-wise there is talent throughout the roster with the likes of Leslie Harvey and Will Peguero Jr paired up with multi-sport athletes like Peter Whittaker and Terry Ballard.
Moyle said the team’s record doesn’t match up with its potential because the side has yet to hit its stride.
“We have not found a rhythm yet,” he said. “We had a lot of people off Island or having other things like family and work come before the team. That’s what played on our rhythm and practices. On Saturdays though we’re united and we have each other’s backs. But we’re nowhere near playing at 100 per cent.
“I must say our defence has played really well,” Mr. Moyle said. “Most games we lost by only a point or a touchdown. In the first half we tend to dominate and in the second half the other team gets a point in or two. Our offence has not been firing and scoring lots of touchdowns but when we beat West Bay the D was really good.”
As Moyle points out, Calabash was the only squad to beat the Hellcats this season. That victory was back in week six of the 14-week regular season with the final score 8-2. The clubs have a significant rivalry dating back to 2008 when Calabash, then called the Caybrew Farm Soldiers, beat the Hellcats en route to their lone championship.
The latest chapter in the saga came last week in the Soldiers’ finale against the Burger King Panthers. Calabash would lose that match 13-12 in overtime with head coach Johan Moxam being ejected. Interestingly, the crowd (mostly dms players and Hellcats supporters) chanted against Johan and the Soldiers, in particular calling for the substitution of Luigi Moxam in place of Glenn Duran at quarterback. Luigi, who orchestrated the 2008 title run, was not present at the game.
Moyle is quick to say that the facts around the finale should not cause speculation of discord within the squad.
“The quarterback is one of the most important players on the team,” he said. “Glenn is a phenomenal QB and he owns that position. From the beginning he has been with us. There is no issue at quarterback. Luigi is loved island-wide and he has been around from the start. Saturday was about people trying to throw us off our game.
“Johan will be there for us this Saturday,” Mr. Moyle said. “His role is to manage the team and he does his part to help from the sideline. He too has been with us from the start.”
For all of the talk around a Hellcats-Soldiers showdown, Calabash still has to pass a tough test in the Pirates. Hammerheads have been decent stats-wise with 118 points scored (third-fewest in the league) and 111 points allowed (which puts them fourth in team defence). However, Mr. Moyle is well aware the Pirates have the personnel to cause problems.
“I’m not worried about their quarterback position (featuring Chris Lucas and Gregory Ebanks),” he said. “Our defensive line with the Brady brothers (Troy and Boris), Kevin Connolly and Jeremy ‘Buff’ Miller is our focus. They will get pressure and then it’s up to the secondary to make big plays.
“However Nigel and Baron, the Solomon brothers, are who we have to watch.
Nigel is on the field at all times and he’s a physical receiver that makes strong catches. Baron has deceptive speed at tight end. We just have to know where they are on the field. We have a game-plan put together, we will focus on those guys and I expect a low-scoring game with the final score 13-7.”
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