Playing Capture The Flag Flag Football Takes Off, And Spokane Crew Is No. 1

When Jeff Hayward decided to expand his flag football team, the Bridgeport Wrecking Crew, from the Spokane city league to the national level a little more than two years ago, he never dreamed it would be ranked No. 1 so soon.

The Spokane team became No. 1 in the United States after winning two national tournaments during the summer. One was in Vancouver, Wash., the other in Tacoma.

“We’ve won championships (in Spokane) before and we just wanted to take it to a different level,” said the 29-year-old Hayward, who helped start the team in 1988. “We heard about the national championship and how you can travel around on this national circuit. So we started doing that, and after just two years now, we’re No. 1.”

Flag football has grown in popularity around the country lately and Spokane has also embraced the sport.

On Sundays, teams from the area gather at Shadle Park High School and Glover Middle School fields to play in a league sponsored by the Spokane Parks Department.

“It’s huge,” said Tanner Haynes, the newest member of the Wrecking Crew. “You play games from 9 a.m. to 4:30 at night. You’re looking at 600 to 700 people going through there a weekend.”

Flag football these days isn’t much different from regular football games, except players wear flags and jerseys instead of pads and helmets. And instead of tackling the player possessing the ball, opponents are required to strip a flag off the waist, bringing the play to an end.

Unlike tackle football, where the guy holding the pigskin is in the most danger, whoever possesses the ball in flag football is the safest guy on the field.

“You can’t lay a stick on him,” explained Haynes. “Everybody else is open game. You can hit full speed on anybody else, but if the guy is carrying the ball, you’ve got to be going for either a flag or the ball itself. Big isn’t as important as speed now because instead of bringing a guy down, all you have to do is pull his flag. Twisting and turning (ball carriers) usually messes people up.”

At 6 feet, 230 pounds, Haynes was invited to play nose guard for the Wrecking Crew after coming up against Hayward and the rest of his team last year.

“We played against Tanner and just thumped his team twice in one day,” said Hayward. “One of our players said, ‘Hey, we can use a guy like him.’ Because Tanner just wouldn’t give up no matter how far his team was down. And we liked that.”

Haynes started playing flag football after recovering from a broken ankle he injured while playing for the University of Washington.

“It’s too much fun,” he said. “You get to get out and do something on the weekend and stay out of trouble.”

Doesn’t sound easy on a team called the Wrecking Crew.

The team name dates to the mid-1980s when Hayward played high school football for Rogers.

“The coach used to call us the Bridgeport Wrecking Crew because those of us who were the heart and soul in the beginning all lived right below Bridgeport Avenue,” said Hayward. “So when we started our flag football team, that’s what we started calling ourselves.”

With the Bridgeport Wrecking Crew gaining national attention in the past year, the American Flag Football Association is sanctioning a nationwide invitational in Spokane at Shadle High School on Oct. 4-5. Eight teams are entered so far, five from out of town, including one from San Diego.

“We’re putting Spokane on the map right now,” said Haynes, who hopes the invitational can pump up some business in Spokane. “The state tournament is going to be in Spokane this year for the first time also.”

However, the Wrecking Crew has its aim at the national tournament held in Las Vegas every January. The team has taken fifth place in each of the past two years.

“We seem to have all of the pieces to the puzzle that we were missing last year,” said Hayward. “This year, we’re not coming back with fifth place, I’ll tell you that.”

, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: Photo

MEMO: This sidebar appeared with the story: Tackling No. 1 Farwest Mortgage is the next team to get a shot at nationally No.1-ranked Bridgeport Wrecking Crew, at 4 p.m. Sunday at Glover Middle School Field No. 3 (on the west side of the school). The Spokane Parks Department adult flag football program has teams in divisions from A to D with games Sundays from 8:30 a.m. through 4 p.m. at Glover and Shadle Park High School.