The 2002 CSA SportsFest series presents:

"The Melting Pot"
CO-ED FLAG FOOTBALL TOURNAMENT
November 8 &10, 2002

the games

The Inaugural Tournament - Recap

Now that we had the draft complete and six rosters filled out, it was time to play the games.

The six teams were divided into two pools for round robin play. Pool A had Solid? Gold (Leland), If You Suck, I'll Trade You (Darren), and Short Bus (Kevin).
Pool B had Leg Humpers (Roger), Kickin Ass (Todd), and BC's Rage (Brian).

The games started at 10AM with If You Suck playing Short Bus on Field 1 and Leg Humpers playing Kickin Ass on Field 2. The IYS and Short Bus game was a defensive struggle. Neither team was able to score in the first half. In the first half alone their were four total interceptions. IYS was able to break through on their first drive of the second half and they made that 7-0 lead stand up. On the other field, Leg Humpers took a 7-0 lead at the half after Roger connected on a long pass for a touchdown. Kickin Ass was able to get into the endzone in the second half, but they missed the conversion try and weren't able to score again. They fell to Leg Humpers 7-6.

Game two matched up If You Suck with Solid? Gold and Kickin Ass with BC's Rage. BC's Rage took advantage of a tired Kickin squad and rolled them 28-13. The IYS/Solid? game was a battle. At the half, IYS led 7-6. In the second half, Solid QB, Brett Barash was able to find Carleen Tullier on a closed play for a 25 yard gain that put the ball on the one. Solid punched it in on the next play and held on for a 13-7 win when Marty Russo picked off an IYS pass to effectively end the game.

The third games were now crucial for determining elimination seeding. A win by BC's Rage and Solid? Gold would guarantee them the top seeds and a first round bye.
BC's Rage did their part. They took a 13-0 halftime lead over Leg Humpers and held onto that lead for the rest of the game.
The other game was much tighter. In the first half, Short Bus and Solid? Gold exchanged touchdowns. Solids score was keyed once again by a long catch by Tullier. It was 6-6 at the half and that was the score with under five minutes remaining in the game. Faced with a third and long, Rob Wilson, the QB for Short Bus threw a deep pass that Val Ned went up for, but was unable to catch, fortunately he tipped the ball right to teammate Jeff Benincasa, who took the pass the distance for a 56 yard go ahead touchdown. Solid wasn't through though. Trailing only 12-6, a touchdown would at the very least tie the game. Solid marched the length of the field quickly and had first and goal with under two minutes remaining.
Then the Short Bus defense tightened up and on fourth and goal, Solid was unable to get into the endzone and the game ended.

So after three games in each pool, the round robin portion was over and teams were re-seeded for elimination play. In Pool B it was simple, at 2-0 BC's Rage was the top seed, 1-1 Leg Humpers were second, and 0-2 Kickin Ass was three.
Pool A was more complicated. Each team was 1-1. The first tie-break was point differential. Based on their plus one scoring differential, If You Suck, I'll Trade You was the top seed, Solid? Gold, with an even point difference was two, and Short Bus, who gave up only one more point than they scored, was three.

The first round matched up Short Bus and Leg Humpers on Field 1, and Kickin Ass and Solid? Gold on Field 2.
The scoring drought continued for Leg Humpers in the elimination round. They were shutout by Short Bus 14-0. Leg Humpers failed to score a point in their final five halves. Short Bus moved onto a rematch with If You Suck, I'll Trade You.
The other quarterfinal was the first game in tournament history to go to overtime.

In the first half, the teams traded touchdowns. First, Kickin Ass started with a short field after a Solid punt and Todd Walker drove Kickin 35 yards for a touchdown. Solid bounced right back, Barash was able to march his troops down the field and even the score going into halftime.
In the second half, Solid was the first to get on the board. Running a simple offense, Solid moved down the field methodically and Barash was able to run the ball in to give Solid the lead. With only two minutes remaining, Kickin would need to score and convert the extra point to send the game to overtime. That is just what they did. With only 11 seconds left, and fourth and goal from the three, Walker got Kickin into the endzone. On the very important conversion attempt, Walker hit Steve Swaney to tie the game and send it to overtime.
In overtime, Solid? Gold took the ball first, but ended up fourth and goal from the three. They couldn't score and all Kickin Ass had to do was get the ball across the goalline. On first down, Walker rumbled for seven yards to the three and on the next play, he hit Swaney again for the winning touchdown. Kickin Ass moved on, to a rematch with BC's Rage and Solid? Gold was sent home for the day.

Both semis were rematches of pool play games. And both semis had the same result. BC's Rage took a 12-0 lead at the half and managed to hold on 12-7 to get to the championship. In the other game, If You Suck jumped out to a big early lead, but had to survive a final two point attempt to move on.

IYS had a commanding 12-0 lead at halftime, and after Brandon Webb sacked Rob Wilson in the endzone for a safety, IYS had a 14 point lead and possession. However, Short Bus intercepted the next pass and scored two plays later. Then IYS seemed to respond and ice the game. Ray Lee hit Dave Lautenschlager and Dave tiptoed the sidelines and got into the endzone to give IYS a 21-7 lead. Short Bus didn't quit though. They quickly got into the endzone again to make the score 21-13, and on the second play of the next drive, Short Bus got an interception at the IYS 30 yard line with two minutes remaining. Short moved quickly again, and with 55 seconds remaining they had scored their third touchdown of the half. They now trailed by two, 21-19, with the conversion attempt still to come. A conversion would tie the game, but the IYS defense came up with the big play. They stopped Short Bus and ended the game with a 21-19 win.

The finals featured the two top seeds. This was another classic that came right down to the end. To start the game, BC's Rage continued where they left off. Sean Ferreira hit Kristin Tench on a sideline pass that gained thirty yards, and they were in business. Just a few plays later, BC's was in the endzone and up 7-0.
IYS responded with a score of their own late in the first half, and after the first 15 minutes, the score was 7-6.
In the second half, IYS got a huge lift from replacement player, Julie Zeisler. After making several catches, Zeisler was right in the passing lane and intercepted Ferreira to give IYS a first and goal. IYS didn't waste the opportunity. They got into the endzone to take the lead. The conversion attempt failed, but IYS now had a 12-7 lead.
That was the score late in the game. BC's Rage was driving, but the clock was ticking. BC's moved the ball down into goal to go with under a minute remaining, and with only 45 seconds left on the clock Ferreira hit Kiley Taylor crossing in the endzone for the go ahead score. IYS had one last chance trailing 13-12, but after gaining a first down, they were driven backwards and they just ran out of time. Brian Schlossberg's BC's Rage became the first CSA "The Melting Pot" champions.

All in all, it was a very successful event. 65 players from 19 different CSA flag teams competed. L.C.W. (Leland's team) led the way with nine players, followed by Billy Otis (Roger's team) and Snap This! with five each.