Army wins flag football bragging rights

Two-time Lewis Main champions earn thrilling 31-25 win over McChord’s Western Air Defense Sector team

Somer Breeze-Hanson/Northwest Guardian

McChord Field’s Western Air Defense Sector flag football team just wanted to earn some respect from its Joint Base Lewis-McChord -based Army rival.

Mission accomplished.

The top team from McChord took the two-time JBLM Lewis champs, Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 508th Military Police Battalion, to triple overtime, but Army proved its dominance with a thrilling 31-25 victory Dec. 7. Col. Thomas Brittain, JBLM commander, presented the trophy to the 508th MPs as the top installation team.

“You couldn’t make it more exciting than that,” Brittain said.

The WADS scored two touchdowns in the final two minutes of regulation to rally back from an 18-6 deficit. The game went into overtime tied at 18.

“We just stuck with it,” said WADS quarterback Gregg Bailey. “It seemed like the game was over but we played until the very last second.”

In the first and second overtime each team lined up on the 10-yard line and had four downs to score. At the end of the second overtime it was tied at 25. In the third overtime the teams lined up on the 15-yard line. The 508th MP quarterback David Sadlemyer threw an 11-yard touchdown pass to Vecova Wright to lift the MPs up to a 31-25 lead. Tyrell Spain intercepted a Bailey pass to end the game.

“I knew it was game,” said Spain, who was recruited to play football by the University of Nebraska in 2005. “It was good timing.”

The 6-foot-3 Spain also had two touchdown catches on the night. The 508th MPs are stacked with talented former Division I college players and semi-professionals. The majority of the team’s roster played in the 21-6 flag football win over Navy in the Puget Sound Classic.

Against the Air Force, the MPs got complacent and WADS shifted the momentum.

“We got cocky and we started to throw the ball around,” Spain said. “We learned from our mistakes and it paid off in the end.”

After the game, both teams lined up to face each other across the 50-yard line. A member of the WADS team joked, “We’re the oldest squad on our side, so you can’t be too proud.”

The WADS is primarily Air Guard, with one Airman on active duty.

“He’s messing with our curve a little bit, but I say we have an average age of 35,” Bailey said.

After the high fives, both teams formed one giant huddle mid-field for a final cheer, “1, 2, 3, Joint Base!”