The spectators sit in the bleachers wearing all the winter gear they can find, watching with their eyes peeled. They become ecstatic after a slow 1st quarter.

West Anchorage High School flag football is typically an underrated sport. But is just as exciting and thrilling as the boy’s football. Flag football is an unknown sport to most. Most of their games have an average of 10-15 spectators, all sides included. The spectators are usually only parents and siblings. On rare occasions when a boy’s football game and a girl’s football, flag football and girl’s football can be used interchangeably since only girls are allowed to play flag football, game overlap on a same day, there will be a much greater amount of spectators.

Let’s take some time to talk about the mechanics of flag football. Flag football is very much like regular football there are: downs, fouls, touchdowns, interceptions, and much more. Though there is so much similarity, some mechanics are quite different compared to boy’s football. The mechanics of flag football makes the game of football more friendly to females due to physical physique differences between girls and boys.

Beginning with the mechanics of the offensive team, there are 3 main positions: blockers, wide receivers and a quarterback. The quarterback concentrating on the play the blockers try to stop opposing rushers from getting to the quarterback. The wide receivers run down the field and catch passes from the quarterback. The quarterback in flag football is similar to the quarterback in regular football. The quarterback is responsible for using the ball offensively. On defense, the two main positions are corners and linemen. Corners defend against wide receivers catching the ball. Linemen typically rush the quarterback.

Downs in flag football are also achieved less aggressively than in a regular football game. But downs in flag football much like in the boy’s tackle football, each team is allowed 4 downs to move the ball 10 yards forward. If the ball hasn’t been advanced 10 yards after 3 downs, the offensive team is able to choose to punt the ball to the defensive team. The defensive team has completely different goals than the offensive team. The defensive team must stop the offensive team from gaining 10 yards. Instead of tackling players as in regular tackle football, defensive players down offensive players by pulling off their flags.

The scoring system is also quite similar to tackle football. In most flag football leagues, touchdowns are counted as 6 points. After each touchdown, teams can attempt a 2-point bonus. Unlike regular tackle football, field goals are usually not allowed in flag football. Field goals will only be allowed during the last five minutes of a game