Flag football tournament kicks off at Fort Bragg

By Tina Ray
Paraglide

	Photo by Tina Ray/Paraglide A player with the Slaughterhouse team prepares to catch the football during a flag football tournament Aug. 20, at Ritz-Epps field. The Slaughterhouse team won the game against the Longhorns 26-12. Flag football is the precursor to the regular football season, which begins in September.

With football season getting ready to kick off next month, an annual flag football tournament returned to Ritz-Epps field on Fort Bragg, Aug. 20 and 21.

Nineteen teams, with two on stand-by, participated in the tournament, said Kurt Phoenix, sports specialist with the Fort Bragg Sports Office.

“It’s kind of like a tune-up,” Phoenix said of the pre-season play.

The teams with roster names like the Longhorns, Slaughterhouse, Razorbacks, Red Bulls and Total Destruction, took to three fields at Ritz-Epps to battle it out for bragging rights.

Four-on-four teams played, with the team scoring the most points advancing up the bracket, said Harold Stallworth, also a sports specialist. The games were double-elimination — losing two games equals elimination from competition.

At the end of the tournament, a championship and runner-up would be crowned, but all participants received individual plaques.

Lance Tuggle played with the Slaughterhouse team, mostly comprised of Soldiers from the 1st Battalion, 7th Air Defense Artillery.

Tuggle scored two touchdowns on the team’s way to defeating the Longhorns 26-12 under the sweltering heat of an August sun.

The camaraderie and chance to play football, brings your unit together. It brings the guys closer together, Tuggle said.

Slaughterhouse quarterback, Ben Milo, seemed to enjoy the tournament.

“This is our second year doing it, so we knew what to expect coming in,” Milo said. “It’s a positive thing that MWR (Family and Morale, Welfare and Recreation) does for Soldiers.”

The tournament exemplifies Army brotherhood, said Phoenix, who retired as a sergeant major in 2007, after 24 years of service.

“It’s good because it involves teamwork, which is what the Army is all about,” Phoenix said. “No man stands alone. You’ve got to depend on the man to your left and right.”

For more information about Fort Bragg sports and activities geared toward servicemembers and their Families, visit the FMWR website at www.fortbraggmwr.com or call 396-1217.

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