THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, December 11, 1994 TAG: 9412110192
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C12 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY CHARLIE DENN, CORRESPONDENT
DATELINE: VIRGINIA BEACH LENGTH: Medium: 76 lines
The sights and sounds are typical of what you find on any football field on a given Saturday.
Players yell encouragement to teammates. ``Gotta dig in, `D,' gotta hold 'em here,'' shouts one player on a key defensive play. ``Way to take it to the house,'' players say to each other as they head off the mud-caked turf after a score.
It's football, all right, but without the pads.
This is Saturday morning in Princess Anne Park and the occasion is the Virginia Flag Football Association State Championships. Only a handful of fans occupy the sideline bleachers. The tournament concludes today.
After the Legends/Hooters team from Virginia Beach routs the Hammerheads from Portsmouth, 41-14, Legends quarterback-coach Rob Clark gathers his troops.
``We've got to come back this afternoon ready to play,'' Clark says. ``This is a big game. We've got to bring everything we've got.''
In the state flag football tournament, a team often plays three games in one day. To get to the final, you can play six games in two days. One loss eliminates a team.
And for the Legends/Hooters, which won all three of its games Saturday, that would be unacceptable. The team finished seventh at the nationals in Zanesville, Ohio, last week. Finishing in the top four in the state event qualifies them for the 1995 nationals.
``We take the games seriously,'' says Clark, a VMI graduate who was once a standout quarterback for the Keydets. ``We play because we love it, but we also want to win.''
Flag football resembles the real thing. The fields are 80 yards long and 53 yards wide. First downs enable a team to keep possession of the ball but the field is divided into four ``zones,'' spaced 20 yards apart, which represent first down markers.
Eight players are allowed on the field at one time. Players wear two flags, one on either side of their waist, and a ball carrier is ``tackled'' when his flag is pulled loose.
There is blocking on pass plays, but only above the waist and below the neck. Downfield blocking is prohibited. Contact is inevitable, although the intent is to stop a player by pulling his flag, not by taking off his head.
Still, there are moments. Ex-Miami Dolphin defensive back Dexter Stephenson, now with Legends/ Hooters, plays defensive end or defensive back and has been known to flatten a player while pulling out his flag.
``It can get physical,'' Stephenson says. ``Which is fine with me. I enjoy contact. But I play because it's fun and I love it.''
Most players are former high school performers who didn't make it beyond that level. Flag football gives them one more shot at the sport.
After his career at VMI, Clark bounced around for a few years, playing with the semi-pro Chesapeake Bay Neptunes and the Tidewater Sharks.
He played flag football in a local league that allowed downfield blocking. Then he formed his own team and began sculpting it to Virginia standards.
``Initially, most people think of flag football as a fast-paced game where quickness is everything,'' explains Clark. ``But eventually you learn it's just like real football, where size and speed rule the game.''
Clark has lined up three beefy blockers, including former Virginia Tech player Joe Turner and ex-N.C. State starter Bill Moxley.
There are some other outstanding teams in the state event. A Richmond-based team, Out of Bounds, is probably the favorite since it finished second in the '94 nationals and won in 1993.
Several teams from Northern Virginia - including Brian's Grill, Poonbeats and the Fairfax Raiders - are also considered serious state title contenders.
``We want to get to the final four,'' Clark says. ``That's what this is all about.'' ILLUSTRATION: Photo
L. TODD SPENCER
Maurice Wiggins of Legends/Hooters tries to split the flag-grab
tries of the Hammerheads' Tommy Henderson, left, and Mac McKinney.
by CNB