SUAMICO – If it’s possible to be chill and excited at the same time, the Howard-Suamico Youth Flag Football team has it under control.
The 10 boys, who will be one of at least three teams representing the Green Bay area in Saturday’s NFL FLAG Football regional tournament on the Green Bay Packers practice fields in Ashwaubenon, held a final practice on Friday at Suamico’s Idlewild Community Park, before heading to opening events at Lambeau Field on Friday afternoon.
“I may be more excited than they are,” said Howard-Suamico program commissioner and Buccaneers coach Josh Tufnell.
De Pere Metro and NEW Lutheran Blazers also are scheduled to be among the 56 teams in 11 divisions vying for a chance to advance to the NFL FLAG Championships at the Pro Bowl Games on Feb. 4, 2024, at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas. Games will be played between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. Saturday on Ray Nitschke Field and in the Don Hutson Center.
“I think they are excited about that, to be able play on the same fields the Packers practice on,” Tufnell said.
That is mostly, but not entirely, true. Kyle Tufnell, 10, the coach’s son and an unrepentant Detroit Lions fan, kind of makes a face when asked if he’s excited to play on the Packers’ practice fields.
“It’s fine with me as long as the Lions don’t get beat on that field,” he said.
Given his preference, he’d rather the Howard-Suamico team doesn’t get beat there either.
“I really want to win this tournament. It’s an amazing opportunity for us,” Kyle said.
It is the team’s first time in the tournament, which the Packers started hosting in 2022. To be eligible for the Green Bay regional, teams of boys and girls ages 4 to 17 must participate in an NFL FLAG league and be located in the 13-state Midwest region. Teams from eight of those states — Wisconsin, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, Illinois, Michigan, Indiana and Ohio — are registered for Saturday’s games. The other states are North Dakota, South Dakota, Nebraska, Iowa and Kentucky. Green Bay is one of 11 regional tournament sites.
Each advancing team will receive $5,000 for travel expenses.
Max Kekstas, 9, has played flag football for two years, as has 10-year-old Camden Graper. Both are eager for the games to begin and do look forward to playing on the Packers’ fields. “I’ve never been in the Don Hutson Center,” Graper said.
What would excite Max would be “winning the tournament.”
The NFL FLAG games include five players each on offense and defense. There is no blocking. Every player on offense, save the quarterback, who cannot run the ball, is a potential receiver or ball carrier. The goal of the game is to allow players to develop their throwing, catching, running and pass-defending skills, while avoiding injuries.
Tufnell said his players are football smart, which is good, because between baseball, soccer, basketball and trips up north, practices are few. The simplicity of the game helps.
“The kids all have wrist bands. The idea was to make it simple in case we couldn’t have practices. They know where to go on any play that’s called,” Tufnell said.
As they ran through their plays on Friday, the kids were attentive, but loose and clearly enjoying themselves, as was Tufnell. He offered instruction without shouting, and on the whole, it was a lot less tense than might be expected. Passes from quarterback Chandler Maney flew down the field with often tight spirals. Receptions were shakier than usual, which Tufnell attributed to the distraction of there being a newspaper photographer on hand.
“We are best at long passes, I feel like,” said Graper, who, as a receiver, should know.
The team is heading into uncharted territory and Tufnell encouraged his players to take in and enjoy the entire event, which included a celebration Friday evening at the main stage in Titletown and team skills challenges at the Titletown football field.
More:Green Bay Packers hosted an NFL FLAG Regional Tournament
Tufnell hopes they’ll be joined by many other local teams next year. The Howard-Suamico league, which plays August through October, had nearly 500 participants last year, including a program for 3- to 5-year-olds. This fall, it will play at Idlewild park, moving from Nouryon Sports Complex, and add a program for 13-year-olds.
“We have interest from parents that prefer their children play flag football, not tackle,” Tufnell said.
Participation is not limited to Howard-Suamico residents. “We are open to all communities. There are no borders for us,” Tufnell said.
Howard-Suamico joined the NFL FLAG Football program this year. “We became part of it mostly because of resources that come with it,” Tufnell said.
The Howard-Suamico players each received a package of Packers clothing, and the team got a $1,000 equipment grant from the Packers this year, as well as an automated external defibrillator (AED) and training to use it.
“It’s great living this close to the Packers,” Tufnell said.
Contact Richard Ryman at rryman@gannett.com. Follow him on Twitter at @RichRymanPG, on Instagram at @rrymanPG or on Facebook at www.facebook.com/RichardRymanPG/.
Travis Burnett
A pioneer in the flag football community, Travis helped co-found the Flag Football World Championship Tour, FlagSpin and USA Flag. Featuring 15+ years of content creation for the sport of flag football, creating and managing the largest flag football tournaments on the planet, coaching experience at the youth and adult level as well as an active player with National and World Championship level experience.
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