Flag Recap March 31, 2007

WEATHER: Not a cloud in the sky, sunny and 70. Ideal.

GAME: Our first game of the min-tourney/mini-season was terrific. White won 44-30, in a high-scoring game where the two key plays came in defense. Scoring summary at the end.

PHOTOS: Brent takes terrific sports photos, as the 2 above demonstrate. Click on the image for a larger view.

WELCOME: A big welcome to Brenton, a huge Denver Broncos fan, for which he will be forgiven. He is also a producer on Tyra Banks' show, a name that got Rory all atwitter. He is also our second Brenton, which means we must be living in some sort of alternate universe.

OFFENSIVE MVP: A co-award goes to Rory and Peter. Rory made great catches all day in traffic, and wound up with 1 TD and 1 2-point conversion. Peter was a fantasy sleeper, with five catches and two second-half TDs.

DEFENSIVE MVPs: Kind of hard to give them to the losing team, but Jeremiah would harass me all week (phone calls, dead birds in the mail, making me listen to the Texas fight song) if I ignored the fine job he and Demond did as corners for Dark. They were both terrific and each picked me once.

KEY PLAYS OF THE GAME: Two defensive plays by White turned the tide. The first came in the first half when Zach made a pick at free safety and weaved his way down the sideline for a TD. The second came on the first play of the second half when Rory got a pick deep in Dark territory, setting up White for a quick TD.

PLAY OF THE DAY: For sheer fun it was hard to beat Demond catching a 10-yard slant from Marino, then racing the remaining 55 yards, leaving two rather fast defenders in the dust.

MOVE OF THE DAY: Jeremiah caught a short pass and Peter was closing in. J kind of jump-slid left, and Peter was grasping air.

FLAG GRAB OF THE DAY 1: Me, who grabs one flag a century. This one saved a TD as Jeremiah had caught a pass and had nothing but space in front of him. I grabbed and -- amazingly -- the flag was in my hand.

FLAG GRAB 2: Bubba made a superb play and sniffed out a shovel pass to Zach by grabbing his flag at the 1 for no gain.

PASS RUSH OF THE DAY: Brian looked like Dwight Freeney on one play where he batted the pass 10 feet in the air, forcing Marino to play DB and knock it down.

HIGHLIGHTS: Patrick and Demond each made nifty, shoe-top catches, Patrick for a first down and Demond for a TD. … Rory's best was his TD catch where he skied to pull the pass in. … Andrew also had 2 TDs for Dark, including a nice catch and sprint down the sideline. … Brenton is no longer a football virgin, making his first two catches. … Jermaine had to leave early for a date but wound up with a nice pick to end the first half.

SCORING SUMMARY
White 44, Dark 30 (Halftime: White 22, Dark 12):

White (44): Jim TD run (Rory 2-pointer catch from Jim); Rory TD catch (Patrick 2-pointer); Zach int. return; Peter TD catch (Patrick 2-pointer); Peter TD catch (Zach 2-pointer); Brian TD catch. TD passes: Jim (4).

Dark (30): Andrew TD catch; Demond TD catch; Demond TD catch; Andrew TD catch; Hinders TD catch. TD passes: Darren (1); Marino (3).

NEXT: Game 2 is Saturday April 7, Penmar.