Forty-niners are flag football Super Bowl champs

The Florida Discount Signs 49ers used a solid running game and some spectacular touchdown catches to defeat the Coastal Orthopedics Raiders 35-14 in the Adult League Flag Football Super Bowl championship at the Island Community Center. Both teams had worked their way through the playoffs as number two seeds and both teams were six and two in the regular season.

The 49ers won the toss and quickly got their offense going early. Quarterback Matt Kretzmann threw a sideline route pass to Nate Talucci, which got them 21 yards and a first down. On the next play, Aris Thompson caught an eight yard ball in the middle of the field that took them to the one-yard line. On second and goal, Kretzmann found Sean Sanders crossing from right to left for the first touchdown pass of the game. The extra point was good on a pass to Tim Tedesco, and just like that, it was 7-0 49ers.

The Raiders answered on their first drive. They marched down the field and picked up a big gain on a great one-handed grab by Chuck McCracken. Later that drive on second and goal from the four-yard line, Quarterback Kevin Austin hit McCracken again on a well designed shuttle pass for the touchdown. The extra point was no good when Hampton Harrison intercepted the pass, making it 7-6 49ers.

The 49ers chewed up a bunch of the clock in their second drive and methodically drove down the field. Again, a middle pass to Thompson took them this time to the two-yard line. On third and goal, Kretzmann threw a TD pass to Tim Tedesco in the corner of the end-zone. The extra point was good on a pass to Hampton Harrison, and with only two-minutes and 45 seconds left in the half, the 49ers were up 14-6.

The Raiders went three plays and out in their second and final drive of the first half. With 47 seconds left, the 49ers took over. They moved down the field using the sideline and their timeouts to manage the clock. On second and goal from the 14-yard line, Harrison used a double move fade to the corner and made a fantastic diving catch for the touchdown. The extra point was good on a pass to Sanders, 21-6 49ers at the half.

After only touching the ball twice on offense in the first half, the Raiders started with the ball in the second. Tough defense by the 49ers, led by Rich Bell with a sack, forced the Raiders to a three and out. The Raiders defense stepped up on the next possession. Kevin Austin sacked Kretzmann on first down and then sacked him again on second down in the end zone for the safety, leaving it 21-8.

The safety was the spark the Raiders needed and gave their offense back the ball. Shandi Austin caught a nice 35-yard pass to move the Raiders into scoring position. On second and goal from the three-yard line, Chuck McCracken made a diving catch in the end zone for the TD. The two-point conversion was no good. The momentum had shifted, and the Raiders were within a score, 21-14 with 11minutes left.

The 49ers offense went back to its game plan and methodically moved down the field eating up the clock. They capped off the drive with Harrison's second spectacular catch in the end zone from Kretzmann. The extra point was good to Sanders putting the 49ers up 28-14.

The Raiders drove down the field and on third down and goal from the 19, Sean Sanders picked off a pass and returned it 37 yards for the 49ers TD with only three minutes left in the game. The extra-point was good to Harrison making it 35-14.

With time running out on the Raiders and desperation setting in, Harrison got his second interception of the night and secured the Super Bowl championship for the Florida Discount Signs 49ers, 35-14. Their impressive game plan and strategy to manage the clock proved victorious.

Division III (8-9 year-olds):

Beach Bistro Vikings 13
Beach Bums Steelers 12
The eight and two regular season first place Beach Bistro Vikings are Super Bowl Champions and defeated the second place, regular season, six and four Beach Bums Steelers.

A defensive battle for these two teams had the score at 7-6 Vikings at the half. Quarterback Nate Hyman passed to Morgan Horesh for the second half TD that proved to be the winning score and gave the Vikings the 13-6 lead. With over five minutes to go, Tuna McCracken had a fifteen yard TD run for the Steelers to make it 13-12, but the extra point failed for the tie. Tyler Brewer intercepted a pass and gave the Steelers a chance to win, but the Vikings defense held strong and secured the Super Bowl win with a final score 13-12.

Division II (10-12 year-olds):

Ross Built Construction Broncos 26
Mr. Bones Colts 20
The first place, West Division, eight and two Ross Built Construction Broncos are Super Bowl Champions and gave the undefeated nine, zero and one, regular season, first place, East Division Mr. Bones Colts their first loss of the season.
With five minutes to go in the game and Ross Built Broncos up 26 to 14, Rory Houston of the Colts ran 30 yards for the TD, and the Colts pulled to within one score, 26-20. With less than a minute left in the game and the same score, the Colts drive down the field for the tying score. With first and goal and only 27 seconds left in the game, Jake Ross intercepted the pass and secured the Super Bowl championship for the Broncos.

Division I (13-16 year-olds):

Walter & Associates Bears 31
Integrity Sound Redskins 28
The six and four, regular season, first place Walter & Associates Bears are Super Bowl Champions and defeated the regular season, third place, six and four Integrity Sound Redskins.

As reported last week, this proved to be the nail-biter game that was anticipated. With two minutes and 30 seconds left, the Redskins took the lead on a Joey Carder pass to Joseph Andruzzi, 28-25. The Bears marched down the field, and on the very last play as time expired, quarterback Seth Walter found his brother Jack Walter in the end-zone for Super Bowl winning touchdown 31-25 final.

To view all the adult leagues individual player stats and team standings go to the Community Center's sports page at hometeamsonline.com/amicc.

 

The largest convention ever

Yeah, that's what my publisher said I'd be going to last week in Los Angeles I wasn't sure I wanted to believe this whopper. But there it was – Expo West at the Anaheim Convention Center. Legendary for decades, even some of my personal training clients at the gym where I work had heard of it. My publisher was right. He estimated that 20,000 people plus attended the three-day convention each day this year.

My publisher's largest customer, Nutri-books, the largest distributor of books to all health food stores in the US, including Whole Foods, invited me to do a two-hour book signing at their booth on one of the three days. My book still remains both of their #1 sellers. When I wasn't book-signing, I was encouraged to network, visiting as many other booths as I could.

The Expo was much like the one I was invited to recently to at the Gaylord Palms near Orlando. It seemed tiny by comparison. Expo West convention halls were linked together. I only got to several gynormously long aisles.

A cookbook author friend said on Facebook how she wasn't going to Expo West this year because she didn't like the trend using more processed foods. She was so over it.

I, however, was a kid in a healthy candy store. After years of being regarded as the black sheep/health food nut of my family, I finally know that many people want to hear and share my message – that it costs more to eat expensive food at the store and at the hospital.

I may have to run all week long because I will need to burn off the many protein bars and food samples. The weekend was one long snack.

As I say in my book, vegan or not, anything in a box or a package is going to cost more. And the potential for profits is more too. The catered dinner after the book signing was at a home rented by the brother-owners of Tofurkey, one of the early adopter companies of meat analogues or substitutes.

Go down the aisles of Publix and you'll see Tofurkey's many selections of wheat gluten and soy-based foods that taste like meat, chicken, turkey and sausages that you would swear were the real thing. They also have delicious tempeh products with sauces.

The founder of Tofurkey started the White Wave Company in the 70s, which was one of the first companies to introduce the high-protein grain and soybean combination that became known as tempeh. It was eaten in Asian cultures before the product made it to Western cultures.

Soy in its close-to-nature unprocessed form is still widely used in Asia where people's cancer rates are far lower than ours, as long as they don't adopt a Western diet. Fascinating stuff for this reporter whose mom, aunt and both sisters had breast cancer. My life is an experiment to beat the odds that gave them breast cancer, and much more.

The dinner I had at the Tofurkey house was a class act and better than you could find in many restaurants. Many of the Tofurkey products you see at the store are more processed, but the argument for using them is that it is much better than using protein from highly abused chickens at factory farms, or any other farm for that matter.

Many videos taken by organizations document these abuses. Most media outlets don't have the guts and money it takes to do these investigations. And some states, including Florida, are trying to pass laws that even make shooting these undercover videos illegal.

Anything to keep us from seeing the reality of how our food gets on our plate. If we saw it routinely, many more people would look for alternatives. And that is what the lobbyists for the farming industry most fear.

The Expo had hundreds of exhibitors with new and established food products, health gadgets and, in short, anything that a health food store owner might want to stock. Vendors had women hawking products in next to nothing clothing. Raw foodists had an entire section. I did get to taste great juices made from the state of the art juicers on the market. Pure nirvana.

You can follow Island resident Ellen Jaffe Jones on her Facebook page and keep up with her just released book:,"Eat Vegan on $4 a Day," or her website: www.vegcoach.com. She is also a nationally certified personal trainer and running coach. For training in a gym or private hire, contact Ellen at ejones@vegcoach.com or 941-704-1025.