Growing Oglethorpe County’s inaugural Little League flag football program was a goal of recreation department athletic director Daniel Eubanks this season.
“Flag football was a good option for us to have, just to keep our kids active in the community and also help build some of our tackle football numbers for next fall,” Eubanks said.
About 80 players participated this year, and dedicated parents and fans lined the Bryan Park fields last Sunday in anticipation for the no-contact and fast-paced quarterfinal and championship games between the top three ranked teams in each 8u, 10u and 12u coed age group.
Coach Daniel Rotberg led his team to the 12u championship, defeating Eric Pittard’s team 28-20.
Jenna Gay, the mother of 12u player and fifth-grader Tristan Gay, one of coach Jerome Dake’s players, said her son grew in his confidence throughout the season.
“I saw improvement,” Gay said. “He had the experience and everything, but the further the season went on, he just became a little more confident in everything.”
Ben Campbell’s 8u team defeated Mike Hoss’ team 24-20. Coach Craig Huling guided his team to a 23-0 championship game win against coach Shane Brown’s team.
Huling said his team’s success was because “they’re having fun.”
“Any time someone scored, the whole remainder of the team, they started jumping up and down, just telling them ‘good job, good job,’” he said. “Even the ones that rarely ever get the ball, even (they) were being praised for being able to make a play or catch a ball or make a touchdown.”
Huling’s team went 6-0 in the regular season.
“I enjoyed that we were undefeated, but I just more so enjoy that I was able to coach some boys that show a lot of teamwork, a lot of sportsmanship,” he said. “And they even did it for the other teams.”
When it came to his coaching philosophy, Huling said he “tries to rotate each player into different types of positions” so each player can feel comfortable on the field.
“I was lucky with the team that I started off with because it didn’t take much for them to even catch on quick,” Huling said. “The first game, I was surprised at how good they were.”
Early in the game, quarterback ZaMarrea Smith threw a touchdown pass to running back Chase Huling. Smith continued to attack through the air, connecting with Easton Adams for a touchdown several minutes later.
Huling, a former track and field coach at OCHS and one of the 10u boys basketball coaches, hopes the flag football league continues after noticing other kids on the sidelines who looked interested in the sport.
“The excitement of seeing other kids watching the game lets me know that this is something that they’re going to try to do next year as well,” Huling said. “So it’s only going to build a lead up.”
Gay said flag football is a sport “(kids) can (play) while they do other sports.”
“So I feel like it’s going to grow more, and I hope it continues,” she said. “I hope they keep it around, and the (number of) kids (keeps) going up.”
Eubanks said the improvement and growth of each team was “really cool to watch” throughout the season.
“You get a chance to just watch kids grow who have either never played football before, or play tackle football for our teams in the fall that are trying new positions,” Eubanks said. “Just watching them grow and learn the game, it’s been really, really fun to watch.”
The inaugural season “(meant) a lot” to him, as he hopes to continue the growth of the program, with an addition of an all-girls league eventually. Eubanks was named the rec department’s athletic director last December to help with the growth in rec department programs.
“So having 80 kids come out for the first inaugural season, it’s been wonderful, and we’re hoping to keep the increase in that number every year that we do it,” he said.