MEMORIAL DAY WEEKEND 2013THE GRIDIRON GAZETTE WORLD’S LARGEST FLAG FOOTBALL TOURNAMENT3BY DENNIS FREELSdennis@flagfootballx.comThis year’s top story lines have tobe the Penguins and Goose Crew.Never before has Goose Crew let atournament slip away like last yearand never before has a team notfrom Florida, Texas, Arizona or Californiawon the tournament.Are the Penguins a one-hit wonderand how will the Miami powerhousereact to the knockout?Also, dominating teams fromFlorida and Texas come to Roswellthis weekend to let everyone knowwho the real bosses are. LooneyTunes and SWI have won nearlyevery tournament they have enteredin 2013, but have never been toRoswell with their current rosters.Oh, and I can’t forget the sneakyteam from California (Child Please).This tournament’s cast of charactersand story lines are bursting atthe seams. Where is ESPN? This isreal.Let the games begin and welcometo the largest 4-on-4 flag footballtournament in the world!Tournament favoritesGoose Crew<strong>It</strong>’s hard to expect anyone to getmore first-place votes than this teamcoming out of Miami. Fully loaded,these guys have been doing this atthe top for a long time. AlthoughFlorida teams have dominated nearlyevery national tournament formany years, last year, the Miamiguys shocked everyone by gettingbeat early. <strong>It</strong>’s not something youwould expect from a group withsuch a long history, but it happened.This year, all eyes are onGoose Crew to see what happenswhen they get knocked down likethey did last year. Will they put theuniverse back into order or will weall begin to realize that the Floridadominance is no more?BlackoutLook who’s back, back again,Black is back, tell a friend. Cue the“We are the Champions” soundtrackand strike up the band. But anyway,big man on campus Mr. Derrick“Black” Jackson is back after beingout with a knee injury last year.Thought in some small villages as thebest flag football player to ever playDEFENDING CHAMPIONSSHOW ME THE MONEYTHE PENGUINS (GIRARD, OHIO)Roswell Daily RecordMemorial Day Weekend 2013THE GRIDIRON GAZETTEROSWELL DAILY RECORD AND HIKE IT & SPIKE IT STAFFKevin J. KellerLawrence FosterCharles FischerSports Editor Assistant Sports EditorPublisher<strong>And</strong>rew PoertnerJim MatteucciCla AveryEditorCo-organizerCo-organizerFor advertising information, call 622-7710.Correspondence: The Daily Record sports department welcomes correspondence, constructive criticism and suggestions forfuture topics. Mail correspondence to Daily Record Sports, P.O. Drawer 1897, Roswell, N.M. 88202-1897 orsports@rdrnews.com. Submissions: Call 622-7710, ext. 304, for writers’ guidelines. The Daily Record sports department isnot responsible for loss or damage to unsolicited materials.The <strong>Hike</strong> <strong>It</strong> & <strong>Spike</strong> <strong>It</strong> Gridiron <strong>Gazette</strong> is published annually at 2301 N. Main St., Roswell, N.M. The contents of the publicationare Copyright 2013 by the Roswell Daily Record and the <strong>Hike</strong> <strong>It</strong> & <strong>Spike</strong> <strong>It</strong> Roswell tournament organizers and maynot be reprinted in whole or part without written permission of the publisher. All rights reserved. The Roswell Daily Recordis represented nationally by Paper Companies Inc.HANDICAPPING THE FIELDthe game, he leads Blackout intoRoswell to claim what they feel wasstolen last year. After a heartbreakingloss to the Penguins in the championship,Blackout is here to makethings right. Although they might betough to beat in Roswell, Blackouthas been bone dry in Dallas over thelast year and that’s why I can’t seemto lay out any real predictions onthese guys. We are not sure if theyare coming or going but, either way,you are sure to hear someone yell“Blackout” at least once if you makeit to Roswell this weekend. <strong>It</strong> wouldbe a bit shocking if Blackout didn’tfinish in the top four, especially sincethey have been there more often thannot in the past five years.PenguinsQuarterback Jason Moore’s Penguinsbring back most of their sameteam again and look to put thepieces together to make another runBRACKET INDEXDivision (field).......Page19-24M NSD (C) ...........8Top H.S. (D) ..................819-24M EXP (E)............9Corporate (F) ................919+F (G) .....................1235+M (G).....................1219-24M (H)..................1419-24M (I) ...................1417-18M (J) ..................1515-16M (K)..................1515-16F (L) ...................1719+F (M) .....................1719+F (N)......................18at the championship. They could bestanding at the top of the pile againon Sunday if they can find a wayaround the two Florida powerhouseson their side of the bracket. Afterwinning the tournament last year,few people have embraced the Penguinsas legitimate champions,especially after the miraculous finishin the final game. If they do itagain this year, the Penguin legacycould be solidified as much morereal and not just another Cinderellastory from 2012.Sik Wit <strong>It</strong>Last year’s third-place QB HoltBarwick re-tools a completely newset of players for 2013. Althoughrecently formed, these guys seem towin every tournament they enterincluding a huge Florida event, theNorth VS South. They face a talentedLooney Tunes squad right out ofthe gate at 10 a.m. on Saturday forwhat will prove to be the first upsetof the tournament regardless of whowins. Both the Looney Tunes andSWI have huge chips on their shoulderas two up-and-coming dominatingforces in their respective states.Could Roswell be the tournamentwhere one of them truly makes astatement? We give SWI the edgedue to the amount of experience inbig tournaments. But don’t sleep onthem Goonz!Division (field).......Page25-29M (O) .................1819-24M (P)..................1919-24M (Q) .................19$$$ Menʼs (A-B).....20-2117-18F (R) ..................2215-16M (S)..................22Adult CE (T) ................23Adult CE (U)................2318&U CE (V) ...............2430-34M (W).................2419-24M (Z) ..................2615&U (AA)...................26Adult CE (BB) .............27In it to win itLooney TunesLeading the Tunes into Roswell isfirst-time QB Allen Warren. One ofthe top 9-man/4-man QBs in Texasbrings his group of rough it upGoonz to a tournament a lot of themfinished fifth in last year. After dominatingthe competition in Dallas fornearly six months, they finally lost atough battle to up-and-coming Out-Kast in April without FrankieSolomon. That is huge for them andthe reason I think they may be onemillionthof an inch behind SWI Saturdaymorning. Solomon will not bethere until Sunday due to his professionalcontract with the AllenRevolution. <strong>It</strong> could be a long weekendfor one of Texas’ best.Child PleaseMarc Couch, Marc Couch, MarcCouch ... man, there I go again hypingup players. Please forgive mebecause I had to do it; this dude is abeast and the rest of the cast isn’ttoo shabby either. Look for theseguys to be the x-factor of the tournament.They could end up at thetop or the bottom. I just don’t knowbecause I haven’t had a chance tosee them really play anyone, but,from what I hear, they could be aforce. Don’t be surprised if they endup playing for some money on Sunday.Get Off MeComing off a disappointing thirdplacefinish that helped split theteam apart last year, GOM looks toput the pieces back together and figureout what went wrong. Elite playcallerTone Roldan knows what ittakes to win and will find the guysto do it. Traveling 1,400 miles is noeasy thing and they wouldn’t bedoing it if they didn’t think they hada good chance to win the tournament.The only thing holding themback could be the lack of RoswellSee MONEY, Page 7Division (field).......PageAdult CE (CC) .............278&U M (1) ...................289&U M (2) ...................2810&U M (3) .................2911-12F (4) ...................2911&U (5)......................3211-12M (6)...................3211-12M (7)...................3313-14F (8) ...................3413-14M (9) ..................3413-14M (10) ................3913-14M (11).................39Key: (M)ale, (F)emale, (CE)Co-ed, (NE)No experience, (EXP)erienced, (NSD)Next step down
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