Flag football division begins play

By STEVE LEE

© St. Petersburg Times, published August 31, 2000

NEW PORT RICHEY -- Two weeks after the scheduled kickoff of the Pasco Police Athletic League's flag football division, everything was finally a go for a game on Wednesday night as New Port Richey took on host Tarpon Springs at the Tarpon Sports Complex.

New Port Richey was supposed to begin play in the new league Aug. 17, but the game was canceled because Land O'Lakes lacked enough players to field a team.

"(The Spongers are) going to be losing, 2-15," predicted Ashton Reynolds, New Port Richey's 5-year-old center.

While Reynolds seemed a bit confused about the scoring order, he surely knew where to line up for Wednesday's game (results were not available at press time).

"I'm hiker," Reynolds said confidently. "I block."

PPAL lists four divisions of tackle football teams. The flag football division was established to teach youngsters the sport.

"It exposes them to the fundamentals before the contact," Hudson director Ken Kennedy said.

"Pulling a flag off is the closest thing to tackling," said Tarpon Springs director George Dovellos, adding that the new division "will teach (players) the basic rules of football."

Susan Reynolds, Ashton's mother and the New Port Richey team mom, said she approves of PPAL's new division, because "it's not as rough."

So far, only four -- New Port Richey, Hudson, Land O'Lakes and Tarpon Springs -- of the league's 10 communities list flag football teams. And Land O'Lakes, which had 11 players show up for the initial practices, is down to six. "I think we're finally going to have a few teams, but it's been frustrating," New Port Richey coach Donnie Britt said of organizing the new division. "We have 20 kids strong. Everybody's dropped the ball on this except us."

"Our flag football team never really got off the ground," Land O'Lakes director Helen Kearney said. "We're not going to compete against anybody."

The Land O'Lakes group will continue to practice, though.

As will the teams in Hudson, Tarpon Springs and New Port Richey, which had a green-gold scrimmage on Aug. 17.

"We had a little scrimmage and we gave them a pizza party, because they were so disappointed," Susan Reynolds said of the day Land O'Lakes canceled.

Eventually, Britt said, all 10 PPAL programs will field flag football teams. As for his team, Britt said, "I'm calling them my little future Bucs. They're going to grow up through the league.

"(The flag football division is) going to be a big thing. This is just the start of it."

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