Wood Beavers and Lincoln Lions lead the table at the first flag football tournament

The inaugural season of the Alameda Middle School Flag Football League was decided in games on Sunday, May 19, and Wednesday, May 22. In the co-ed league, the Wood Beavers are ranked No. 1 and the West Alameda Hellcats are ranked No. 2. They will play each other for the championship on Saturday, June 1, at 8:50 a.m. at Lincoln Middle School.

The coed league consists of five A teams representing Wood, Academy of Alameda, Bay Farm and Lincoln, as well as the hybrid team Nea/Encinal. Lincoln also has a B team. The girls league consists of four teams, two from Lincoln, one from Academy and one from “East Bay” (Richmond, Oakland, Piedmont).

In the girls' league, the Lincoln Lions took first place and the Lincoln Wildcats took second place. The girls' championship final will be held on Friday, May 31st at 5 p.m. at Wood Middle School.

The Beavers have won every game in their conference this season, losing only in one cross-league game to the Steelers, an Oakland travel team. Most of the Beavers played together in their free time before forming the Wood team. Some of the Beavers players, as well as some Olympians and Steelers, previously trained at East Bay Flag Football, which ceased operations in Alameda in 2023.

The Hellcats, on the other hand, were generally new to each other this season. The team combined students from Nea and Encinal under coach Daniel Hudson, as neither school had enough players to field a team, and rounded out the team with two AoA students. They edged the No. 3 Lincoln Lions last week by defeating the No. 4 Olympians, who are made up of AoA students. A bit of a rivalry developed between the Olympians and the Lions, as each won a game against the other by taking a 26-20 lead on the final play of each game.

“These guys play together on the playground every day,” said Jenny Seiler, mother of an Olympian. “Playing against another school reinforces that camaraderie. Combine that with the development and growth of a league sport and it creates a more meaningful connection to the game and the kids who play it. It has more of a story arc.”

Despite the threat of the middle school itself closing, Bay Farm fielded a Dolphins team this season. Most of the Dolphins play together in league baseball and get along well in football, but injuries and scheduling conflicts prevented the team from practicing together enough to compete against opponents.

The Teen Titans, which consists primarily of female AoA students, have had the same problem. The league intentionally keeps its teams small so that players can get plenty of playing time and develop their own important roles on the team, said Commissioner Travis Wilson. “The league calendar has to overcome many hurdles to accommodate the players' busy schedules,” he said, “but you can't plan around injuries.”

Instead of having an A and B team in the girls' league, Lincoln decided to field two A teams. The Lions gathered around two basketball players, a soccer player and their friends who wanted to try out the new sport. Coach Stef Szczechowski, who also runs the Alameda Women's+ Flag Football League, led the team to an undefeated season.

Most of the eighth-graders on the girls' teams plan to try out for high school flag football this fall. High school flag football is not available for boys, but some will try out for tackle football, others will return to flag football teams next spring and still others will do both. Brady Olson of the Beavers and Rajaun Lewis of the Olympians played tackle ball in club leagues last fall but are excited about a flag league to keep their skills sharp in the spring.