Sports

Outlaws wrap up fall flag football with championship

November 3, 2022   ·   0 Comments

By Brian Lockhart

The Orangeville Outlaws wrapped up its fall flag football season with playoffs and a championship game on the field at the Hill Academy.

Flag football is becoming increasingly popular and the program continues to grow each season.

The Outlaws first round of playoffs got underway on Oct. 21.

They returned to the Hill Academy on Oct. 28 to decide this year’s champions.

With the pandemic putting a stop to tackle football for couple of seasons, the Outlaws executive decided to try a flag program to keep the kids engaged and active. It proved to be very popular and more kids started signing up to play.

This year’s program started in September and ran an eight-week season with 72 kids on six teams.

“Tonight is our championship night for first and second place,” said Outlaws Club vice president Mike McAulay. “We also played games for third place and fifth and sixth place. We have player born in 2008 and goes to players born in 2012. Next year we’re hoping to have enough players for two age groups. In flag football you see a lot of the athleticism these young kids have. Agility wise, and their speed is through roof.”

Teams have seven players on the field at one time, which has become a standard format for flag football.

“You have four downs to the halfway mark in the field,” Mike explained. “If you get past half, you reset to the first down. The only marker you have out there is a seven-yard rushing line. Whoever is rushing the quarterback starts seven yards back. Were all wrapped up tonight till the spring. All the referees we have come from our tackle program.”

The games have two 25-minute halves.

The final championship game wrapped up under the lights, on a cool and crisp evening.

The parents may have been bundled up on the sidelines to watch the game, but players were staying warm on the field because of the constant movement during the game.

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