Youth sports and adult co-ed flag football and soccer started another set of seasons last week at The Center of Anna Maria Island. Week one of action started for the grown-up kids on Wednesday night, Jan. 13, with adult soccer.
This season’s team rosters witnessed a mixing up of standard team lineups. On paper, the Jiffy Lube squad, with the strong games of the Anderson brothers, Sean Flynn’s versatile play and speed on the field, Eric Pullen’s scoring power, Robb Marshall’s superb stopping ability, Tim Holly’s youth and tenacity, and Lyn Clarke’s wisdom and experience, could be the team to beat.
Against Slim’s Place, both teams showed this could be anyone’s season, with the game ending in a 3-3 tie.
With a new sponsor to the league, now veteran Zach Reda, along with past teammates Cody Wright, Clancy Vaughn and Cole Peterson, took the field with other league veterans to get their Allied team a solid win over the strong Blalock Walters team. Despite goals by Matt Staggs and Chris Scott, Allied scored seven goals in the game and won 7-2.
Reda had a hat trick, leading his team in scoring and tied with Chris Klotz in the league with one game completed.
Klotz’s team, Burton Brick and Tile, won 6-3 against Servis First Bank in the third game of the night. In the loss, Kevin Roman scored two goals and Ben Sato had nine saves.
Also with two goals, Burton Bricks’ Zach Leib started the season strong once again.
In the final soccer game of the night, Sato Real Estate put a win in the record books to start the season. Their victory came against The Gitt Team. Finishing with the score at 4-2, Josh Sato, Amy Ivin, Hakan Toka, and Race Arande each had a goal in the game.
Robert Fellowes eluded the Sato Real Estate goalkeeper twice for his team’s two points.
The next night, in flag football action, the adults took to the Island gridiron for four exciting games to start the season.
In the first game, youth sports standout Jackson Hayes was credited with a touchdown pass for Sandbar in 40-27 first-game victory, as well as single point conversion reception. Matteo Ferris threw the other three touchdown passes and had an interception in the game.
Sandbar’s Tyler Brewer had two catches, one for the point after a touchdown.
Salty Printing’s Shaughnessy family trio, Mike, Bri and Tim, took the field against former teammate Karri Stephens for the first time in many seasons.
Team captain, Tim Shaughnessy had two passing touchdowns in addition to a scoring pass by Danny Murphy. Murphy and T. Shaughnessy also had rushing touchdowns in the loss.
The two interceptions, caught by Stephens and Ferris may have been the deciding factor in the match-up.
In a closer scoring game, Beach Bums won by three points, 21-18, against Ryan Moss and Moss Builders. Quarterback Matt Briley hit Rueben Young twice for touchdowns, with a single touchdown throw to Anthony Mannino for the win.
In addition to the six points, Mannino had an interception against the Moss Builder’s squad.
Quarterback Ryan Moss hit friend Jordan Demers twice, cousin Greg Moss thrice, Cole Carter four times, and Dina DeJesus for five catches, including two for touchdowns.
Moss had a rushing score of his own, while his cousin caught Briley for two defensive sacks. Despite Demers’ two interceptions, Moss Builders could not pull off the win.
Ugly Grouper scored 32 points against team Mi-Box lead by Dominick Otteni, who scored 19 in the first game of the season. Each team finished the game with a single interception by the team captain.
Captain Brandon Kull, is also noted with three touchdown throws and one scoring catch for his Ugly Grouper team.
Chad Woods leads the league with nine receptions for his Mi-Box team, including one for a score. Woods was supported by his fellow scoring teammates Otteni and Dylan Doyle.
In the win, each of the Ugly Grouper players had a catch in the game. Octavious Cole had the most for his team with five grabs, followed by Melissa Acevedo with four catches, and Mark Anthony and Cory Banks each with three.
Cam Winston and Jaret Rojas had single nabs in their team’s first win of the season.
To end the night, Solid Rock Construction and Slim’s Place played a nail biter that ended in a tie after regulation time.
Slim’s Place took the win in overtime, with quarterback JB Shuck throwing a solid four scoring receptions to Cruz Rodriguez, Tim Holly and Jacob Robertson. Holly had an additional five points in the game for Slim’s Place.
Connor Haughey served as the quarterback for Solid Rock Construction, with three passing touchdowns to team captain Jon Moss.
In addition to Jesse Skipper’s and Zack Long’s extra points after the touchdowns, Haughey had a Pick Six taking the Solid Rock team to overtime.
Slim’s Place overtime win puts them in a four-way tie for first place with Ugly Grouper, Beach Bums and Sandbar going into week two.
Related coverage
