Story Tools • • Date of Issue: February 14, 2007 Flag Football: Yellow holds on for 4-point victory by Kevin Cassidy Islander Correspondent Nicole Botero reaches for Blake Rivers’ flag during flag football action last week. Blake Rivers tries to avoid Yellow defenders Trevor Bystrom and Daniel Janisch during flag football action last week. Ben Valdivieso goes high to catch the ball for the Anna Maria Island Community Center Green flag football team as Daniel Janisch and Alex Burgess defend. Yellow took what seemed to be an insurmountable 19-0 lead over Green into the half, only to see Green fight back to make a game of it in Anna Maria Island Community Center Youth Division flag football action on Feb. 3. Brandon Gengler opened the scoring for Yellow with a 60-yard run for a touchdown. He followed that with a 70-yard interception return for a touchdown that gave Yellow a 13-0 lead. Green came back and looked to have scored when quarterback Kyle Parsons hit Chandler Hardy for 36 yards, but he got stopped on the 1-yard line. On fourth down, Alex Burgess knocked down Parson’s pass to deny the Green team. Yellow marched right down the field in the waning moments of the first half capped by Trevor Bystrom’s 30-yard pass that tipped off Nicole Botero’s hands to the waiting hands of Alex Burgess, who took it to the 5-yard line. There QB Bystrom pitched back to Gengler, who ran around like Michael Vick before finally hitting Daniel Janisch with the TD pass and a 19-0 lead. Green got its offense going on the next drive, which lasted all of two plays. QB Parsons hit Ben Valdivieso for 18 yards and a first down. They hooked up again on a little swing pass that Valdivieso took to the house from 23 yards out. Parsons then hit Hardy for the two-point conversion to pull to within 19-8. The Green defense held and got the ball back to its offense. Valdivieso, now playing quarterback, hit Hardy for 37 yards on first down, while Rivers gained 20 yards on a run up the middle on the second play of the drive. Parsons found Connor Cloharty on a second-down pass play that he took to the 1-yard line. On third down, Parsons hit Hardy in the flat for a touchdown to pull to within 19-14. Valdivieso hit Parsons with the one-point conversion to make the score 19-15 Yellow. Both teams traded offensive possessions with no score, but Gegler appeared to ice the game for Yellow when he bolted 75 yards up the middle for a touchdown and a 25-16 lead. The Yellow defense held Green down on their next offensive possession, but gave the ball back in dangerous field possession when Bystrom’s pass was intercepted by Valdivieso at the 25-yard line. Green wasted no time as Parsons hit Valdivieso with a 25-yard touchdown pass to pull to within 25-21. Gengler stopped Valdivieso on the two-point attempt and then ran out the clock to seal Yellow’s victory.   Key Royale golf news Key Royale golf course was circled with pink flags to celebrate “Fore the Cure” on Tuesday, Jan. 30. Sixty-five golfers joined forces to golf a nine-hole shotgun event to raise money for breast cancer research. Donations from the members and their guests totaling $1,818 were delivered to the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation. See related story “Key Royal women.” The Key Royale Club’s men played a nine-hole, best-ball-of-partners game on Jan. 29 which ended in a two-way tie for first place. Al Morgan and Tom Nelson, along with the team of Dick Grimme and Ernie Hauser each finished with a 3-under-par 29 to share bragging rights for the day in the clubhouse. Charlie Knopp and Matt Behan finished alone in second place with a 30, while three teams another shot back finished in a tie for third. The men were back at it again on Jan. 31 for an 18-hole, individual low-net tournament. Dick Ware captured bragging rights on the day with an impressive 6-under par 58, three shots better than Greg Shorten and Bill Gallagher, who both finished with a three-under 61 to tie for second place. Jim MacVicar was in third place by himself with a 62, while Earl Ritchie and Tom Lewis tied for fourth place with 63. In other club news, the annual men’s scratch match-play championship is down four golfers. Dick Mills will take on Web Cutting for the championship, while Duke Miller will take on Bob Kral for the third- and fourth-place club bragging rights. Horseshoe news Al Norman found himself in the winner’s circle twice last week, running his winning streak to 11 consecutive wins with two different partners. On Jan. 31, Norman was teamed up with Gene Bobeldyke and won six consecutive matches, including a 23-17 nail-biter in the finals. Norman teamed up with Paul Sheatler to defeat the team of John Crawford and George McKay by a 22-18 score to capture the Jan. 27 horseshoe competition. They advanced to the finals on the strength of their 21-9 victory over Ron Slagh and Dave Leising. Play gets under way at 9 a.m. every Wednesday and Saturday at the Anna Maria City Hall pits. Warmups begin at 8:45 a.m. followed by random team selection. There is no charge to play and everyone is welcome.