THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, December 24, 1995 TAG: 9512220176
SECTION: VIRGINIA BEACH BEACON PAGE: 25 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Sports
SOURCE: BY GARY EDWARDS, CORRESPONDENT
LENGTH: Medium: 66 lines
The underdog Red Dogs became top dogs a couple of weekends ago and won the Virginia State Flag Football Association championship, hosted by Virginia Beach at Princess Anne Park for the third straight year.
The Manassas-based team pulled off the biggest upset of the weekend when they beat national champion Terry's Bad Boys 38-21 to advance to the semifinals. The Red Dogs won the title by beating another Cinderella team, Richmond's Nighthawks, 27-21 in the championship game.
Not all the upsets were on the field, said Rob Clark, the quarterback and leader of the local Legends team. His team played the Red Dogs to determine which team would move onto the championship.
A mix up in communications may have cost his team the title, he said. Legends got a late start in a morning game because the referees weren't ready at the announced starting time. Because of that delay, the head official at tournament headquarters at the oceanfront told Clark that his team would play at 1:30, a delay of a half an hour. Flag teams play two 25-minute halves.
``I turned into the park at 1:15 and the game was already going on,'' said Clark. ``And we were playing without four starters on offense and three on defense.''
The score was 20-0, Red Dogs.
``I wondered what the heck was going on,'' Clark said.
Before he could insert his first-stringers into the game, the Red Dogs had taken a 27-0 lead.
``With our regular guys playing, the game was 20-0.''
Clark ``went ballistic'' after confronting the officials. He was told that nothing could be done.
``I lodged a formal protest,'' Clark said, adding that he didn't want to demean the Red Dogs, but that he didn't understand how they could want to win a tainted title.
``Our best players weren't on the field,'' Clark said. ``We finished second to Terry's in the nationals the week before and I think we had a legitimate shot at winning the state.''
The other semi-final game featured fireworks, too, but all the excitement was on the playing field. The Nighthawks came back from a 24-7 halftime deficit to beat Brion's Grille of Fairfax 34-27.
Brion's quarterback Terry Brown threw three touchdown passes, two to Mike Kiem, to forge the lead.
But one of Brown's early second-half passes was intercepted and returned for the touchdown that ignited the Nighthawks' rally.
Nighthawks quarterback Ricky Johnson and his receivers found the rhythm that had eluded them in the opening half. Johnson hit wide receiver Rozier Jordan for long gains consistently.
Despite his disappointment, Clark expects the state championship weekend to return to the Beach again next year.
``We have the best facilities,'' he said. ``And the guys seem to like coming to the Beach to play, even in the winter.'' ILLUSTRATION: Photo by GARY EDWARDS
The Nighthawks, in dark jerseys, defeated Brion's Grille of Fairfax
34-27 in the flag football semi-finals. 1
by CNB