By Eric Poe/sports editor
The second weekend of SE Campus flag football gave fans a needed fix with competitive games, great quarterback-receiver hookups and stout defenses.
The first game of the day was a shootout with Mansfield winning against the Pink Panthers 36-19. Mansfield’s offense looked difficult to stop.
The second game of the day featured Beast Mode and Ban. Ban succumbed to turnovers and the fantastic play of Beast Mode receiver/cornerback Jacob “The Beast” Ramirez.
Ramirez showed off his hands with a 40-yard touchdown catch while outjumping the Ban defenders to snag the ball. He followed this up two plays later with a vital interception.
Beast Mode never looked back and got a late touchdown to seal the win, 22-8.
After a short break, play resumed with So Icy taking on Forever Love Money. So Icy took the game 28-20, with So Icy player Charles Uwagbai being the difference maker. Uwagbai scored the first touchdown of the game, then spent the rest of the game on defense pressuring Forever Love Money quarterback Jimmy Green.
“I was just trying to throw him off his rhythm,” Uwagbai said. “You gotta do that.”
Green said Uwagbai’s rushing him had nothing to do with the loss.
“Not a factor,” he said. “It didn’t make a difference.”
Uwagbai overcame an elbow to the eye when he caught Green’s follow through.
“They called it roughing the passer,” he said. “But it was his elbow that hit me.”
It didn’t affect his play, or his team’s, however, as So Icy took a late lead.
Running back Montai Surrel put the icing on the cake for So Icy with a maze-like 20-yard touchdown run on the last play of the game.
The next game featured reigning district champions AK going against the Noobs.
Joe Tran was AK’s most constant threat as receiver, weaving in and out among Noobs’ defenders.
One sideline, tip-toeing catch by Tran near the end of the first half set his team up at the one-yard line, where they would go on to score.
His catch would be outdone by a late touchdown run by AK quarterback Vu Van. Van dropped back, didn’t like what he saw in the receiver matchups and took off going 75 yards, untouched, into the end zone for the winning touchdown in the 20-14 game.
“It was fun,” Tran said. “It was fun playing against my friends on the other team.”
Tran said AK has a lot of competition on its way to a repeat championship.
“I don’t know [if we will win again],” he said. “That team we just played was pretty good.”
Games take place every Saturday until the District Cup Nov. 19.
