enlarge Jill Brady/Staff Photographer

The team called Baseball – guess why – celebrates a touchdown during the final of the USM Flag Football League playoff tournament Sunday in Gorham. Baseball beat Upton Deuce, 21-14, for the league championship and, yes, those all-important college intramural sports bragging rights.

enlarge Jill Brady/Staff Photographer

As Ben Ives, left, and Jeremy McKeon show Sunday, flag football lacks the protective gear of its gridiron cousin, but not its intensity.

enlarge Jill Brady/Staff Photographer

Jim Nutter, top, makes sure Keith Corley comes away from the play with something other than the football during their flag football game at USM on Sunday. The USM league title was on the line.

enlarge Jill Brady/Staff Photographer

Upton Deuce QB Doug Christiensen looks to pass while under pressure from Josh Mackey during the title game of the USM Flag Football League on Sunday. With 13 teams and 156 players, flag football is the school’s most popular intramural program.

GORHAM — Anthony D'Alfonso's eyes scanned the scorer's table, looking for the prizes that went to the victors. "What, no hot dog dinners this year? What are we playing for?"

Pride, he was told. And those cloth, draw-string shoulder packs you give to your little sister, courtesy of a new sponsor.

D'Alfonso nodded and joined his teammates as Sunday's late afternoon sun dipped lower in the sky. Kickoff for the championship of the University of Southern Maine Flag Football League was minutes away.

"I play this for fun," said D'Alfonso, the 6-foot-4, 245-pound former first baseman and outfielder for the USM baseball team. His grin was cold. He was challenging the common definition of fun.

This was football without helmets or pads or even a mouthguard. Players wore belts with four narrow strips dangling over each hip. Grab any part of the belt with its easily released clasps and pull it from the ballcarrier's waist to make the tackle.

Quickness and the ability to contort one's body away from grasping hands is important. "It's all about the stiff-arms," said D'Alfonso of nearby Westbrook. He is finishing up classes this semester. "A good stiff-arm keeps the defense away."

He was having fun again. According to USM's intramurals rulebook, stiff-arms are illegal.

Ten teams came to the Paula Hodgdon field hockey field in the center of campus for the playoffs. Games were shortened from 40 minutes to 20. Lose and you're done. No mercy was shown, but no one left the field on a stretcher, either.

"There's a little less blood than you'd expect," said Jeremy "Worm" McKeon, a senior sprinter on the track team who was unofficially tagged as the league's MVP this season for his exceptional play on offense and defense. He was a wide receiver on his Rutland, Vt., high school team whose offensive coordinator was Jake Eaton, the former University of Maine quarterback.

"Still trying to live out a dream," said McKeon, grinning. "But it is fun."

D'Alfonso played with about a dozen baseball players on a team that was simply called Baseball. Hey, they saved their imagination for the plays they devised.

The baseball team had to beat the Gobstoppers, a team of mostly track athletes, in the semifinals. It was, shall we say, a spirited game.

"We have a rivalry with the baseball team, said Curtis Coleman, a senior sprinter from Bangor. "I like to jaw with the other players. I think it's how I met everyone on campus.

"I love flag football. It's all in the hips. You have to be agile, you have to be able to dodge. People that will sacrifice their bodies helps, too. There are a couple of big dudes on the baseball team."

Sunday was a day for torn shirts and torn egos. "It's a good way to blow off steam after a week of classes," said Greg Voner, a senior from Hallowell whose team, TSGH, lost in the semifinals to Upton Deuce. "We get together during the week to work on our plays. We've got about six standard plays that we add to."

Bob Prince, an assistant baseball coach who doubles as assistant director of intramural sports and recreation, says the league started this fall with 13 teams and 156 players. "Flag football is our most popular sport, not just numbers-wise, but in passion. It's not uncommon to see teams practicing plays in the field house during the week."

On Fridays during the season, Prince says he hears a buzz on campus before Sunday's games. No doubt he's close to the baseball players who do tend to make noise.

A few fans turned out for Sunday's playoff games. Everyone else missed out on the acrobatics, the athleticism and the gritty competition.

As time clicked off the clock, Grey Goodrich, the Baseball team's quarterback, found Ben Ives on a flag pattern for the winning touchdown. The final score was 21-14.

Casie Runksmeier, an assistant softball coach, hurried onto the field to give the winners their prizes.

What, no parade through campus?

Staff Writer Steve Solloway can be contacted at 791-6412 or at:

ssolloway@pressherald.com