The Anna Maria Island Sun Newspaper


Vol. 16 No. 24 - April 13, 2016

sports

Brothers Moss light up the championship field:
Beach House Real Estate victorious

Anna Maria Island Sun News Story

monica simpson | SUN

Members of the winning team, Beach House Real Estate,
celebrate their victory.

Beach House Real Estate 21
Moss Builders 13

Just before sundown, the regular season league leader faced the second seeded team in the adult co-ed flag football championship game at The Center Wednesday night. Beach House Real Estate, #1 seed, proved why they were at the top of the league against worthy opponents #2 seed Moss Builders.

What proved to be a showdown between brothers Ryan Moss and Jon Moss kept those on the sidelines and the dozen spectators, more than half part of the closely-knit Moss family, engaged in the 40 minutes battle the entire time.

Beach House, lead by Don Purvis as quarterback, started the game on offense. Purvis continued with his creative play calling using a mix of states like Texas, Oklahoma and Louisiana, and cities such as Memphis and the silent snap - - signatures he is well known for in the league.

After a few snaps of the football, a holding call on Moss Builder’s Nick Sato, and razzle-dazzle swirling and twirling into the end zone by J. Moss for the first score of the game, taking two minutes off the clock. Dragging Sean Kaleta across the back of the end zone, Beach House advanced the score to 7-0.

Methodical play calling was key for both teams during the season. Moss Builders on their first set of downs strategized in the offensive huddle coming out with the speedy wheels of Sato for a 10-yard gain before the flag pull by Mike Gillum.

J. Moss set the stage for the entire game sprinting more than seven feet pass the line of scrimmage to put pressure on R. Moss. Despite the sack attempts, R. Moss completed passes to Jeff Walker, Jay Hoffmeister and Sato for a Moss Builder’s TD and one point conversion, tying the ballgame.

Both teams on the field showed incredible depth of play offensively, with the versatility of J. and R. Moss, D. Purvis, Walker and Sato. All of the players on each team are strong contributors on the other side of the line of scrimmage both offensively and defensively. The overall strength and consistency of both teams is clearly the reason they were in the championship game.

Sato applied the defensive pressure on D. Purvis, the strong and experienced QB, forcing him to throw his first pass away back on offense for Beach House Real Estate. With the snap to Leah Purvis to J. Moss, Purvis was free to go down field to get into position for an offensive gain. Despite the effort, Beach House missed a scoring opportunity, giving the ball back to Moss Builders.

Relentless, J. Moss batted down the pass by R. Moss with the football nearly intercepted by Erin Gereghty. Wearing the two targets on each hip, R. Moss could not avoid the hot pursuit by J. Moss, nabbing his brother’s flag in the end zone causing a safety and giving Beach House two points advancing their lead to 9-7.

Taking over on offense the Moss-Purvis combo option was not enough. Three snaps of the football and no score once again for Beach House.

With four minutes left in the first half of play, observers saw R. Moss in the shot gun position more than ten yards behind the center, forcing J. Moss to run further to catch him, giving the QB more time to get the ball away and the offense to run their routes. Catches by Sato could not stop J. Moss. On the third down play, J. Moss got a critical sack ending the offensive run by Moss Builders.

Purvis found Kaleta for his second catch of the gain before meeting up with the defensive wall of R. Moss. After a catch by D. Purvis, Sato raced to get his sack on the quarterback, once again stopping Beach House Real Estate before getting into the end zone.

Defense was the name of the game during the first 20 minutes of the championship game. Jesse Brisson quickly pulled the flag of Hoffmeister. With the clock ticking down and a two point spread in the score Sato was the intended receiver for the next three plays gaining big forward progress. Moss House used their last timeout of the half with 8.3 seconds on the clock.

In a big play Brisson made a critical defensive move batting down the football in the end zone in front of Walker forcing the third down play. Hoffmeister went long in a do or die play missing the perfect catch by R. Moss for the last play in the half leaving the score 9-7 with the slim lead by Beach House Real Estate.

Starting the second half of the game, both teams knew they would need to put more points up on the scoreboard to win the game. In an important move, Beach House’s Chris Sullins stayed close to intended receiver Walker, going up for the ball and Walker. Despite the fact that Sullins was called for pass interference, the long yardage gain and possible score was avoided.

Game MVP J. Moss continued to put the pressure on R. Moss once again forcing him to throw the ball away. Seconds later, on the third down play, R. Moss’ pass was intercepted by J. Moss.

Putting it all together offensively, Beach House Real Estate scored after a near interception by Walker in the end zone. The long pass by J. Moss to Purvis for the touchdown finally moved the score to 15-7. R. Moss stopped the point after, catching the pass by J. Moss.

Still in the game and determined, Moss Builders used the quick feet of Sato to gain yardage. Some of the progress gained was brought back with a flag guard call on Sato who accumulated 105 receiving yards in the game.

Hoffmeister was the strong target for R. Moss on the third down play. After the reception, Hoffmeister sprinted straight down the middle of the field past the first down line.

R. Moss hit Hoffmeister at the Beach House seven-yard line with an impressive flag pull by L. Purvis stopping the touchdown. Walker took the snap and threw to R. Moss in the end zone for the fourth touchdown of the game. Missing the extra point, Beach House Real Estate retained a two-point lead.

With eight minutes left in the game Gillum got the call for a short yardage reception.

D. Purvis could not turn fast enough to catch J. Moss’ throw on second down, and the third down throw by D. Purvis was incomplete.

Preventing Beach House from putting more points on the scoreboard the supercharged Moss Builders offensive tried to drive the ball down the length of the field for a score. Sato was called for flag guarding again, taking away the touchdown run by the speedy offensive threat. Gillum and Brisson matched up well and prevailed on defense with important flag pulls.

A torn jersey and successful offensive plays were not enough for Moss Builders. Unable to get into the end zone, Moss Builders gave the ball back to Beach House Real Estate with plenty of time on the game clock in the heated competition.

With less than three minutes left in regulation play, an unnecessary roughness penalty call on Moss Builders gave Beach House a huge field advantage and a new set of downs. Kaleta caught the next two D. Purvis passes giving his team a first down and the next score, running half the field avoiding defenders and taking time off the clock before scoring. Missing the extra point put additional pressure on the Beach House defense with the score 21-13. D. Purvis recorded 95 passing yards, with an additional 30 yards noted for J. Moss.

Moss Builders took over on offense with one time out left and 13.2 seconds left on the clock, plenty of time for level headed and talented R. Moss to move his team down the field and possibly tie the ball game.

No receivers were in site on the first down play for R. Moss, finishing the game with 20 out of 28 passes completed for 145 passing yards. Walker gained yardage before the Brisson flag pull with Walker in bounds keeping the clock ticking. Moss Builders used their time out with less than one second on the clock. In the final play of the game, the “Hail Mary” pass found all but three players at the end of the field ready to catch the bomb.

The football hit the ground with no time left in the game and Beach House Real Estate the winners with the final score of 21-13, ending another fun adult co-ed flag football season on Anna Maria Island.


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