Zac Dahman, right, quarterback for D Battery, 1st Battalion, 43rd Air Defense Artillery, spins to avoid getting his flag pulled by Sandy Jackson of A Btry., 4th ADA Regiment, during the 11th ADA Brigade league flag football championship game Oct. 15.
Photo by Dustin Perry.

 

A/4 ADA clinches flag football championship with 1-point win

Dustin Perry

Editor

A redemptive touchdown run in the closing minutes of overtime gave A Battery, 4th Air Defense Artillery Regiment, a one-point victory in the nail-biting 11th ADA Brigade flag football championship Oct. 15.     

Dan Pluff, A/4 ADA’s quarterback, threw interception passes during his team’s first three offensive possessions, allowing opponents D Btry., 1st Battalion, 43rd ADA (Team A), to score twice, but his game-clenching rush into the end zone earned his team a 28-27 win. Winning the title also secured for A/4 ADA a top seed in the post intramural tournament beginning next week.

Robert Navarro Jr. of D 1-43 was the first to put points on the board, with a leaping catch in scoring territory. Following Pluff’s third interception, D 1-43 once again had possession of the ball. Navarro later scored again after leaping for a pass, wrestling it away from a pair of A/4 ADA defenders and running it the rest of the way.

Star offensive lineman Charles Shinkle got things started for A/4 ADA with a stellar reception in the end zone, giving his team their only points in the first half. It was after the midway point of the game when the rest of the squad finally started to put their offensive prowess on display. Mike Whalen scored back-to-back touchdowns within minutes of each other, putting his team ahead for the first time in the game with a hardly comfortable score of 18-14. They earned two freebie points when D 1-43 committed a safety on the next possession.

Not wanting to count themselves out just yet, D 1-43 tied the game when Christopher Carter snatched the ball away on a flubbed lateral pass from Pluff and trotted it the short distance to the end zone. With 52 seconds remaining, Calvin Aultman made up for a relatively unremarkable first half by making a leaping catch and earning a crucial six points for his team.

Members of the A/4 ADA flag football team hoist their first-place trophy upon having it presented to them by Col. Joseph De Antona, commander of 11th ADA Bde. after the team’s 28-27 victory Oct. 15 against D 1-43. Photo by Dustin Perry.

 

A/4 ADA trailed 27-20 but were given one final possession because of a league rule allowing seven additional plays after the end of regulation time. On the team’s fourth down – and the game’s penultimate play – Shinkle earned his second scoring reception of the night, sending the A/4 ADA sideline into hysteria. To force things into sudden death; however, the team still had to tie the game by getting the extra point – a challenge Gene Muniz successfully carried out.

The format for overtime allowed the team that won a coin toss to have first possession and four downs to score. A/4 ADA won the toss and began their drive.

“I pulled the offense aside and told them, ‘Our plays work, our offense works – we just need to pull it together,” said Pluff. “Our defense and offense were fighting [D 1-43] all night, but we just came together on that last play.” 

It was during the second play that Pluff, unable to find an open man downfield, simply zipped down the right side of the field and straight into redemption.

“Scoring that last play was huge,” said Pluff. “I’m not much of a celebrator, but that felt good. It was nice to win this game for our unit.”

Whalen said it was a great feeling to win the game because the match was a hard-fought one.

“It’s what we were practicing for all year long, and we weren’t going to accept anything other than first place,” said Whalen. “Hopefully, we’ll do the same at the post championship.”

The game was “nerve-wracking in the beginning,” Whalen said, because the team was relying on their defensive line to make big stops – “and they did.” One of the biggest contributors to the defense’s success was Sergio Arana, someone who had never played football before the championship match but put constant pressure of D 1-43’s quarterback throughout the night.

“I wore soccer cleats to a football game,” said Arana, “but to come here tonight and win a championship is a great feeling.”