Alumni Flag Football Team Opens Season
With Decisive Victory
Defeat “Los Diablos” 24-12


Front row (L to R): Lauren Holliday ‘02; Ashley Foster ‘01; Mike Meiners ‘91; Mike’s wife Maggie Meiners;
Justine Wardrop ‘03.  Middle Row (L to R): Laura Hsieh's husband, Desmond Bailey; Laura Hsieh ‘89;
Ceannaich Ryan ‘93; Eli Rollman ‘88; Brennen Keefe ‘88; Ashley’s boyfriend Joe Sellers.  
Back Row (L to R): Pete Weddle ‘98; Ross Noble ‘91

   CHICAGO – Everyone got into the mix last night at the Lincoln Park South Fields as the Andover Blue rallied from first quarter confusion to take control of the game and cruise to victory.  
    The Blue’s game plan of “let’s get some Andover people together for a good time” didn’t offer much in terms of a play-to-play strategy and our complete lack of Chicago flag football experience didn’t help matters.  Confusion reigned in the opening plays as we had barely been introduced and were forced to find our team identity on the fly.  Quick as a flash we were down a touchdown.  But true to Andover form we came together to overpower our opponent with a lighthearted approach, unselfish teamwork and good old fashioned smarts.  Soon things were clicking and we knocked out two unanswered touchdowns on passes to the surehanded Ross Noble.  
    In the second half we continued to keep our opponent out of the end zone with Ceannaich Ryan’s eagle-eye defensive leadership keeping the secondary alert and stopping many big plays.  Joe Sellers seemed to have a hand in every stop, gladly sacrificing his body for the good of the team.  With fleet-footed recievers Eli Rollman and Desmond Bailey spreading the offense, Mike Meiners, Ross Noble, Pete Weddle and Brennen Keefe (a former varsity quarterback with a win over Exeter) shared passing duties without a hint of quarterback controversy, throwing passes to every player on the roster and notching two more unanswered touchdowns in the second half.
    The real story, however, was the women.  Justine Wardrop kept them guessing on the short routes, Laura Hsieh threw some serious blocks, Maggie Meiners and Lauren Holliday combined for a number of completions and touchdown-saving tackles.  But Ashley Foster captured our imagination.  Entering the game with absolutely no prior knowledge of the game of football (though some claim she had once heard mention of a game called “football” at a party) Ashley left the field with numerous receptions, a 20 yard grab and a jaw-dropping, drive-killing interception that sapped the Diablos’ will.
    In the waning minutes, with an Andover victory well in hand, the Diablos struck with a hail mary bomb to bring the score to 24-12.  No extra points were converted on the night.
    The game highlighted an impressive melding of relative strangers brought together by a common love of Andover, who, by the end of the night, looked like they’d been playing together for years (or at least hours).

To the team: See you next week.  Thanks for signing up and helping to get this thing off the ground.  The first game was a blast.  

To the rest: Wish you could be here.

Mike Meiners '91