Pig Bowl goes to MPPD Charity events raises funds for new cancer center
Monday, April 23, 2007 10:32 AM CDT
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| Red Beasley (right) takes a pitch from fellow Titus County Sheriff's Office teammate Hayes Lesher as Mount Pleasant Police Department's Travis Nichols (25) gives chase during MPPD's 46-6 win over the sheriff's office during Saturday's 2nd Annual Pig Bowl. TRIBUNE photo by Jayson Larson |
Battle-tested warriors, hardened by fire and stoic as frozen tundra, engaged in a skirmish of monumental proportions Saturday at Sam Parker Field. OK, OK - it was cops playing flag football.
But for a very good cause.
The officers - representing the Mount Pleasant Police Department on one side and the Titus County Sheriff's Office on the other - participated in the 2nd Annual Pig Bowl. The event, sponsored by the Mount Pleasant Optimist Club, was held to raise funds for the Patty and Bo Pilgrim Cancer Center and Childhood Cancer. Ground was broken on the center, off Mulberry Street, on Sunday.
A portion of the funds raised will also go toward the national Childhood Cancer organization, according to Pig Bowl chairperson Nicole Baggett.
"They have good fun," Baggett said of the officers who participate. "They're very good sports."
For the second year, MPPD dominated the game, taking a 46-6 win in what was a close game at the half. MPPD returned two interceptions for touchdowns to underscore the air-tight defensive effort.
"I think the reason we work so well is because we all have such a close brotherhood in our department," MPPD Lt. Tim Ingram, the team's captain, said after the game. "We work well together, we work well as a team.
"Oh, yeah, and superior play calling," he playfully added, with a laugh.
Dirty play? Trash talk? Hardly. Instead, the two sides offered encouragement to one another as they ran up and down the turf. Encouraging words such as, on one fourth down play, "Come on, we ain't got all day. Go ahead and go for it and give us a short field," and "I ain't that tall!" after an incomplete pass.
Sources close to the happenings at the Pig Bowl revealed the sheriff's office, still tasting the bitter blowout defeat from the prior year, practiced all morning before the game. This year's team also included officers from the Texas Department of Public Safety and Mount Pleasant Independent School District.
Those extra efforts did not go unrewarded. On the first drive of the game, after two incomplete passes, quarterback Hayes Lesher found Lee Benton wide open on a 70-yard touchdown on third-and-forever. The point-after-touchdown pass was missed, leaving the score at 6-0.
MPPD utilized the short-passing strategy to perfection, took the lead on the ensuing drive when Marcus Carlock hit Ray Barrett for a touchdown pass. Raymond Yokel's PAT pass was complete to Jojuan Clemons to put MPPD ahead for good, 7-6.
Clemons' presence was the source of controversy after the game, as an unidentified source from the sheriff's department said he may have been seen playing for the Dallas Cowboys before his career in law enforcement. The rumors could not be run down at press time, and neither could Clemons, who scored three touchdowns. He would later catch his third from Yokel, and the second came off a pass from Carlock.
Yokel's touchdown pass to Barrett left the score at 20-6 at halftime. Kyle Holcomb broke things open when he intercepted a pass and returned it 37 yards for a touchdown. Holcomb also caught the PAT, pushing the score to 27-6.
Carlock hit John Beasley - whose father, Red Beasley, played for the sheriff's office - with a touchdown pass to make it 34-6, and following Clemons' third touchdown of the day, Joshua Hatfield intercepted a pass 40 yards for a score to cap the day's events.
Afterward, the team's embraced and congratulated each other.
So just what does the sheriff's office have to say for itself after coming up short?
"I had fun out there playing," said Titus County Sheriff's Sgt. Drew Nipp, his team's captain. "It would be nice to win … but I'd lose any day for that cancer center."
Couldn't have been said better by Vince Lombardi himself.
