TINKER AIR FORCE BASE, Okla. -- Defending champs Reserve Gold protected their unblemished record this season with a 22-6 conquest over undefeated 72nd Security Forces Squadron in the Spring Flag Football League.
Reserve Gold made the most of their first possession from the 20 yard line. An 80-yard drive April 4 got big boosts from quarterback Jeff Inferrere’s 14-yard pass to Ryan Barnes and a short zip pass to Brett Nims, who ran for a 33-yard gain to the 15.
Five plays later, Nims cradled a lob to the end zone for the first score. The score jumped to 8-0 with an Adrian Mack two-point reception.
Five-O gained only seven yards on the next possession before Eric Huston boomed a 43-yard punt that Inferrere ran back to the Gold 39.
Reserve Gold rapidly advanced to the SFS eight yard line in six plays. Five-O’s Letrelle Hunter, however, shut down the drive with an end-zone interception he ran back to the 16.
The defensive reversal was short-lived. Gold’s Barnes pulled down a Five-O pass two plays later, setting up his team at the 11.
Five-O stopped Gold at the two yard line, forcing a fourth and goal scoring try. That’s when Inferrere found Brian VanCuren for the TD. The quarterback ran it in for two more points and a 16-0 halftime lead.
Five-O mounted its longest drive of the game in the second half, advancing 49 yards in 11 plays. Gold’s defense bounced back in Five-O territory, though, stopping three plays with no gains. A fourth-down 11-yard sack shut down the drive.
Gold earned its final TD in a seven-play drive from Five-O’s 42. Mack grabbed a lob pass in the end zone.
Five-O quarterback Huston landed the longest scoring pass of the game in the next possession. From their own 48, he struck Christian Anderson around the 20 yard line, where he rushed to the end zone for a 52-yard score.
Five-O was hampered initially by only having eight players out of a possible nine to field.
Inferrere said Gold’s strategy “starts and ends on defense.”
“When you limit your opponent from scoring, you put yourself in a good position to win,” he said. “We knew we had to do that against a team that can score quickly, like Security Forces. When everyone does their job, things run very smoothly on both sides of the ball. That’s what we try to improve on each and every week.”