JBER football, first in the Last Frontier

  • Published
  • By A1C Christopher Gross
  • JBER PAO
JOINT BASE ELMENDORF-RICHARDSON, Alaska --  It was an up and down game in freezing temperatures for two of Alaska's elite military flag-football teams, Saturday.

Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson relied on their running game and defense to pull out all the stops in a 14-13 win over Fort Wainwright and declare themselves the best in the far northwest.

JBER quarterback Patrick Spence rushed for 66 of the team's total 71 yards while throwing for two touchdowns and converting a two-point conversion on the second score. Spence said he felt this game was a fight to the finish and the cold weather was definitely a factor in the passing game, causing many footballs to be dropped.
The 3rd Battalion, 509th Infantry Regiment (Airborne) represented JBER, making them 17-0 after their win Saturday.

"It feels good," Spence said. "We've been humble all season and we finish the season (undefeated)."

JBER put up a big defensive stance as well, sacked Fort Wainwright's quarterback Joseph Mctyre six times and took control of the ball more than three times on either punts or turnover on downs.

"It was a good game, we just didn't execute as good as we (normally) do," said Andrew Hobbs, who played some good defense for Fort Wainwright, making a key sack in the second half slowing down JBER's momentum.

JBER took the lead early in the game, scoring on a three-play drive which resulted in a 27-yard touchdown pass from Spence to Roberto Herandez. JBER came up short on the extra point.

Fort Wainwright looked slow from the start, punting on their first offensive possession, but bounced back with an interception on the next drive and followed up by putting together an eight play drive and scored on a 21-yard touchdown pass from quarterback Joseph Mctyre to receiver Linaro McMillian. The point after was good and put Fort Wainwright up 7-6 before the half.

Fort Wainwright got the ball to start the second half, but was forced to punt it away. JBER capitalized on the three and out as they put together another drive, this time JBER scored on a 20-yard touchdown pass to Hampton Miller and converted a two-point conversion, and took a 14-7 lead.

Fort Wainwright didn't give up, a few possessions later they drove the ball down field in the final two minutes of regulation and scored on a fourth and goal play with 10 seconds left in the game.

However, they came up short, unable to complete the point after, which would have tied the game and sent it into a possible overtime.

"We stuck in there, we almost (had it)," Hobbs said.