The Tribune

By TENAJH SWEETING

tsweeting@tribunemedia.net

After eight weeks of flag football action courtesy of the Bahamas Flag Football League, teams used this past weekend to see where they measure up against each other.

Sunday’s week nine matchups featured teams such as the Fidelity/Money Maxx Phoenix Fire, Bamboo Shack Lady Jaguars, Dolphin Express Hornets, Oasis Team Red Dot, Sands Passion Fruit Hawks, Paradise Games Wildcats, Caro Contractors Avengers (women), Spectrum Assassins, Predators, and ELDC Lions.

With the playoffs less than three weeks away, these teams look to solidify their spots in the playoff picture and matchup against familiar foes.

In the day’s first matchup at the Winton Rugby Field, the fourth-seeded Phoenix Fire went up against the winless Bamboo Shack Lady Jaguars. The Fire toppled the Lady Jaguars 26-0 to add another win to their 4-4 win/loss record on the season. The fourth seed kept their feet on the gas pedal and never looked back as they were able to keep the Lady Jaguars scoreless in the bout.

Jayson Clarke, head coach of the Phoenix Fire, talked about the team’s win. He said the win felt okay despite the game not being as competitive as expected.

He said his team’s focus was to play in preparation for the upcoming playoffs and next week’s matchup against the number one seed.

Despite the win against the scoreless team, Clarke hopes for the Phoenix Fire to clean up their execution of getting to the right position, not missing assignments, and overall competitiveness.

The team will look to measure up against the undefeated Paradise Games Wildcats next week Sunday. In the day’s second matchup, the second-seeded Oasis Team Red Dot took down the 2-5 Dolphin Express Hornets.

Team Red Dot opened up the first half of the matchup with a 6-0 lead to gain control of the game early on. By the end of the game, the Hornets were able to put 13 points on the scoreboard but fell to the higher seeded team 18-13 on the day.

Edward Campbell, head coach of Team Red Dot, talked about how it felt to topple the Hornets.

“We are happy to get the win, not happy with the way we performed preparing to face the number one team next week [but] we will use this game to try to build on what we need to do next week,” Campbell said.

The coach added that his team will need to work on minimising the extra in-game chatter and being able to communicate on and off the field more efficiently. He emphasized that his message to his team is quite simple: do your job.

Game three saw the highly-anticipated undefeated Paradise Games Wildcats take on the second-seeded Sands Passion Fruit Hawks. The Wildcats came into the bout not only with an unblemished record but before yesterday’s game no other team had scored on them. However, the Hawks were able to score 3 points against the women’s division leaders and also defending champions. The Wildcats ultimately won the matchup 18-3 improving their record to 9-0 after nine weeks of flag football action.

Dwight Marshall, head coach of the Wildcats, talked about the big win against the second-seeded Sands Passion Fruit Hawks. He gave the Hawks credit for being the second ranked team in the league and also said the team halted an in-season goal of theirs as they were the first to score on them for the entire season. Nonetheless, Marshall added that the team’s ultimate goal is to win another championship and take it one game at a time.

With only one more regular season game remaining, the coach said that his team tries to win every play and if they focus on the small things they build up. He added that his team takes it one down at a time.

In the day’s final games, the 4-4 Caro Contractors Lady Avengers defeated the 1-7 Spectrum Assassins in dominant fashion. The Lady Avengers routed the team 14-0. The undefeated Predators took down the Lions 13-0 to add another win to their unblemished record for the season. With most teams only having one game remaining until playoff action gets underway, teams will look to come out strong for week ten next week Sunday at the Winton Rugby Field.