The Saints march past the Colts

The Saints in the 11-to 13-year old flag football league at the Anna Maria Island Community Center maintained their perfect record with a win on Saturday against the Colts, a complete team effort. Coached by Darren Horesh, the Saints started the game on defense and saw the Colts take the early lead. With Joe Rogers and Ava Zink as quarterback, an aggressive run by Jacklyn Schlossberg and key catches by Rogers, Roman Langley and Rutger Langley, the Colts put up six points. A critical sack by Saints Hannah McCracken kept the score 6-0.

In the first set of downs for the Saints, the Colts, coached by the Center’s athletic director Matt Ray, could not stop the quick legs and elusive moves of Jackson Hayes. In two plays, Hayes entered the end zone, tying up the game 6-6. The extra point conversion was successful as Morgan Horesh made a diving catch thrown by quarterback Tuna McCracken for the Saints.

The next three possessions proved to be fruitless for both the Colts and Saints. The strong defense of the Saints stopped the Colts with three snaps of the football and no yards gained, turning the ball over to the opponent. Saints player David Daigle had a short rushing gain for five yards. The combination of T. McCracken and Hayes connected for passing yardage that was short of the first down. In the next set of downs for the Colts, J. Rogers found Rutger Langley for two consecutive complete passes, giving them first down yardage. Zink added 10 yards, bringing the Colts closer to the end zone. In the Colts last attempt to score, T. McCracken blocked the pass of J. Rogers to Rutger Langley, keeping the score 6-7.

Hayes started the Saints’ next possession with another long run. Roman Langley stopped Hayes’ progress with a fantastic flag pull. Eli Brashear, for the Saints, gained a first down with a burst of speed off the line of scrimmage. Daigle followed up with additional short yardage, which lead to the zigging and zagging down the field eluding opponents by Hayes for the Saints’ second touchdown. T. McCracken found Hayes in the end zone for the extra point, taking the score to 6-14.

The Colts’ final possession of the first half of the game started with a sack by H. McCracken for the Saints. With Zink under the center, J. Rogers received the quick pitch behind the line of scrimmage. H. McCracken quickly responded with another flag pull, forcing the Colts to attempt a deep throw at third down. J. Rogers hit Rutger Langley for a 15-yard gain that was soon met with a flag pull by T. McCracken to end the Colts’ drive. T McCracken quickly fired the ball at Daigle for a substantial yardage, but the time ticked off the clock ending the first half of play.

The second half of the game started with quick changes of possession as both teams failed to find the end zone in the next four possessions. The Saints started the half as Horesh gained short yardage before he was forced out of bounds with constant pursuit by Madelyn Rogers. The second down catch by Daigle was called back by an Impeding the Rusher penalty by the Saints. Schlossberg’s rush of T. McCracken forced the quarterback to roll to his weak side and throw an incomplete pass, giving the ball back to the Colts.

Rutger Langley took the role of quarterback throwing the ball to J. Rogers for a short gain. The Langley brothers gained yardage just short of the first down with a nice catch by Roman Langley. The Colts’ attempt to make a first down failed with an incomplete pass by Rutger Langley to J. Rogers.

Hayes took the ball for short yardage for the Saints before Rutger Langley pulled his flag. Hayes and T. McCracken had a botched hand taking the Saints to third down where the undefeated team could not first down.

Taking over on offense, Horesh pulled the flag of Rutger Langley after picking up a few rushing yards. Rutger Langley took the helm to find J. Rogers. Horesh immediately pulled his flag. The strong overall defense of the Saints stopped the Colts again before they could cross midfield.

The first snap of the next possession earned Horesh 10 rushing yards, followed by a short reception by Daigle. On a critical third down, Daigle caught the throw by T. McCracken. Daigle proceeded to run the ball down the field 25 yards entering the end zone for the first score of the half. On the extra point for the Saints, Daigle hit T. McCracken just short of the goal line leaving the score at 6-20.

The Colts got creative with a fake hand off to Zink. J. Rogers gave the ball to Schlossberg who made a strong run before H. McCracken pulled her flag. With attentive defense, Daigle tipped the pass by J. Rogers to Rutger Langley just before the reception. Uncharacteristic missed flag pulls by H. McCracken, Hayes and T. McCracken allowed Rutger Langley to score a touchdown for the Colts after a solid run, taking the score to 12-20. Once again the tough defense of the Saints gave J. Rogers nowhere to go on the point after attempt.

The next possession for the Saints seemed like déjà vu. T. McCracken took the snap and handed it off to Hayes, who ran the entire length of the field, scoring a touchdown. Daigle made a stretched out catch in the end zone to add the extra point to the Saints’ lead of 12-27.

With the time on the clock quickly ticking down, the Colts made one last attempt to put points on the board. An incomplete pass, short yardage by Roman Langley and a botched play ended the series for the Colts. Before ending the game H. McCracken gained 10 rushing yards.

Weather permitting, the end of the youth flag football regular season comes to an end this week, with the last game played on Friday, Feb. 27. Playoffs begin on Saturday, Feb. 28.

The Sun Scoreboard

Feb. 16: 8-to -0-year old flag football

Bowes Imaging Lions (3-3)0
AMI Realty Dolphins (1-7) 19

Feb. 16: 11-to 13-year old flag football

Amanda Richards Salon
Cowboys (1-6) 12
Bucs (5-1) 39

Feb. 19: 8-to 10-year old flag football

Seahawks (4-4) 6
Bears (5-3) 0

Future Guardian
Insurance Chiefs (6-2) 21
AMI Realty Dolphins (1-7) 0

Feb. 21: 8-to 10-year old flag football

AMIRealty Dolphins (1-7) 0
Tyler’s Ice Cream Vikings (2-6) 25

Feb. 21: 11-to 13-year old flag football

Lions (3-3) 19
Bucs (5-1) 32

Colts (1-5) 12
Saints (5-0) 27

Swordfish Grill Seahawks (1-5) 47
Bucs (5-1) 52

Amanda Richards Salon
Cowboys (1-6) 6
Dolphins (5-1) 65

Feb. 21: 14-to 17-year old flag football

Eagles (4-3) 32
Island Mail and More Ravens (4-3)40

18 and over adult co-ed flag football

Colts (0-7)26
Giants (4-3)53

Saints (4-3)25
Sato Real Estate Rams (4-3) 32

Slims Place Falcons (7-0) 32
Dolphins (3-4) 26

Salty Prints Bengals (4-3) 31
Sugar Beach Digital Patriots (2-5) 12

30 and over adult co-ed flag football

Agnelli Pools and Spas Giants (2-5)39
Poppos Chargers (5-2) 29

Raiders (6-1) 50
Chiefs (3-4) 14

Packers (3-4) 40
Tyler’s Ice Cream Vikings (2-5) 24

Adult co-ed volleyball

Game 1:

Sugar Beach Digital 25
Southern Greens 27

Game 2:

Sugar Beach Digital 19
Southern Greens 25
Match Winner: Southern Greens

Game 1:

Signarama 25
Sugar Beach Digital 19

Game 2:

Signarama 25
Sugar Beach Digital12
Match Winner: Signarama