Rain and equipment issues proved to be detrimental for intramural football’s Navy in their 29-8 loss against the Taliban 2 in Monday evening’s flag football game.
“The rain is why we lost; I couldn’t scramble effectively in these shoes,” said Everal Pratt, the 20-year-old Navy quarterback. “I kept slipping and sliding, I need cleats.”
Some of Navy’s key players lacked proper footwear, which they said didn’t allow them to perform as well as they could have.
After receiving the ball first, the Taliban 2 executed their main objective, which was to score. The Navy struck back by answering with a 19-yard touchdown pass by Pratt to Kehinde (Kay) Sangodare, an 18-year-old computer engineering student from Miami.
“We knew the defense they were playing, and where they would be positioned,” Pratt said. “I knew the routes my receivers were going to run, so it was all up on the receiver to make it happen.”
On the first drive of the second half, Chris Pluebloom, intercepted a Pratt pass.
“I had a feeling the ball was going to be thrown my way sooner or later so I just waited on it to come my way,” said Pluteboom, a 23-year-old business student from Miami.
Martis Bunton, a 23-year-old political science student from Tampa, and quarterback for Taliban 2, tried to complement Plutebloom’s success.
Although his efforts were unsuccessful on the next drive, they were not in vain. On the following drive, the Navy turned the ball over when Gian Staley, 21, a computer informational sciences student from Miami, returned 20 yards for a touchdown.
Before the fat lady stop singing her sorrowful song, the Taliban 2 managed to assemble a final scoring drive.
“We could have done much better today. We had them at first; we were controlling the game at one time early on,” Sangodare said. “I don’t know what happened. I think if our defense would have played better, and if I would’ve been thrown the ball more frequently, we would have won the game.”
The Navy (2-2) team will try to eliminate the mental mistakes it made in this game in preparation for the next game.
“We are going out next time with the same game plan; only differences will be it’s going to be executed and, we are going to get the W (win),” Sangodare said.
With minor maintenance needed on the Taliban 2’s (4-0) scheme, they are taking the right steps towards their number one goal, which Bunton said is “trying to win a championship.”
Contact Siraj Sabree at thefamuansports@hotmail.com.