As an innocent bystander, occasional player and marketing dork for Texan Flag Football here are my post tournament thoughts.
1. Great competition everywhere. The A bracket on Sunday was just brutal, as evidenced by the Gators and Scatbacks going home before noon. The B division saw some incredible matchups and the C bracket included some reputable top 25 ranked teams and some NFL flavor. Great players and great teams were not in short supply.
2. Congratulations to the McAllen Colors. Flag football made easy. The rest of the A teams fought and clawed their way through the bracket; the Colors drove home with a trophy and clean jerseys.
3. Two A teams that didn’t win the championship but played good football were All Madden and the Houston Jaguars. Despite all the big name teams, Madden was the only one to make the Colors sweat.
4. The B division playoffs were nothing short of a treat. It really was all about the Houston Cyclones, who had Derrick playing quarterback. In the semifinals Odessa Aftershock scored what appeared to be the game winning touchdown on play 5. Two plays later, including a 60+ yard bomb into heavy wind, the crowd was shocked when the Cyclones scored, sending them to the championship. Meanwhile, the FW Texans had just won a double overtime game against Havoc. The championship game was not a letdown. The Cyclones came back from two scores down to send the game into overtime, where they backed up their 2010 TAAF state championship with another B division trophy.
5. Did I mention the level of competition? The B bracket had first round matchups like McAllen Team Slo vs. SA Apache (210 Bandits) and SA Warhawks vs. Havoc. That’s good stuff.
6. The C level had several very talented teams as well. Sinton has really improved and Kingsville was hardly a C level team. However, neither made it to the championship game. Congrats to Port Arthor for taking a tough first day and learning from it.
7. 4 teams that really surprised me by faring better than I expected:
- All Madden: Headhunters helped but give credit where credit is due
- Pasadena Mix Up: Earned #2 seed in the B division
- Houston Jaguars: Had an athletic squad out there with Kenny Black and it showed
- FW Color Station Villains: Expected Houston Badboys but saw something much better
8. 3 teams that surprised me by faring worse than I expected
- SA Apache: Not really 210 Bandits but they had too many good players to go 1-3 this weekend
- Team Pub Fiction: A blowout, shutout loss to Havoc? Missing lots of their guys but no excuse for a shutout loss.
- Kingsville 361: Too good a team not to win the C division
- Houston Gators: No way to hide their Sunday disappointment
9. Speaking of talent, there was some great individual talent playing in the Spring Classic. Jamal Charles (UT), Earl Thomas (UT), Deon Murphy (KSU), Justin Akers (BAY), J’Covan Brown (UT) and several others represented the former Big 12 conference on their respective flag squads. Former players from Trinity, Sam Houston, San Angelo, Houston, Rice, Prairie View, McMurray, Mary Hardin Baylor and dozens of other college programs flooded the Sportsplex for the tournament. Flag football legends like Tuffy Martinez and Lynn Clark were leading their respective squads and some new names came into the limelight this weekend.
10. Great tournament with some great football. Thanks to every team that participated and we hope to see you at the Bayou Bash in October if not sooner.
Kingsville beat the Bayou City Cowboys in the first round but coudln't make it past the Houston Vipers in the C bracket semis. Then Port Arthor beat the Vipers in the C title game.
According to texanflagfootball.com's 2010 state rankings, three C bracket teams were B level ranked- Vipers (#11), Ktown (#16) and Sinton (#25). Throw in a Port Arthor team littered with NFL players and the C division was very compeitive.
