Game of flags

"You can't tackle your mom!" Isn't a phrase you hear at a typical football game, but last Saturday's flag football game between alumni, staff and parents and the high school and junior high football teams was anything but typical.

After a disappointing and injury-filled football season that ended with the Lynx forfeiting the remainder of their season, the school staff decided they needed to do something to give the players a proper close to the season.

"Kids were disappointed that they weren't going to get to have a homecoming game, so we conspired to have kind of a fun game they could end their season with," said Lincoln School Athletic Director Laura Allen-Bullis.

Allen said the game began as a pretty straightforward eight-on-eight contest between the two teams, but at some point, the team made up of more, umm, mature players decided they needed to balance out the youthful energy they were up against by adding four additional players to their side of the field.

From there Bullis said they kind of started to lose track and before long no one really knew how many players each team had on the gridiron, but it looked like a lot.

Most of the fun of the game appeared to stem from the fact that, much like "Whose Line is it, Anyway?" the rules appeared to be made up and the points didn't matter, a fact that became obvious by the occasional tackle and when Referee Jager Vossler, in an as yet understood arrangement, spontaneously subbed in as a receiver for the student team and caught a pass.

"What a great way to celebrate kids and staff, huh?" asked Kathy Heisler, who was also serving as a referee, but apparently hadn't made any deals to jump into the game.

"I think everybody had fun," said Jackie Grantier. "It was something to bring the community into the school and interact with the students."

Allen-Bullis said she thought the game ended the season on a good note for everyone, and said it's something they may want to bring back every year as a fun annual tradition.