MDG takes intramural football title

  • Published
  • By Tyler Hemstreet
  • Staff writer
MCCHORD AIR FORCE BASE, Wash. --  The 62nd Medical Group intramural football team pulled off late comebacks in two consecutive loser-out games to defeat the 62nd Logistics Readiness Squadron/1st Air Support Operations Group and win the intramural football title Nov. 20 at Rainier Field. 

MDG speedy wide receiver Harry Dennard hauled in two long touchdown passes from quarterback Curtis Storm with less than two minutes left in both games to secure 20-18 and 26-25 victories. MDG (18-1) not only avenged a loss in last year's football championship game, but also a first-round loss to LRS/ASOG that sent them to the loser's bracket this year. 

"We knew we had to take it game by game," MDG wide receiver Demetrius Office said.
"Once we pulled off that first victory, we knew we could do it." 

LRS/ASOG (10-8), which entered the playoffs as the No. 8 seed, needed just one win to
take home the title in the double-elimination tournament, but couldn't get the job done against MDG's lightening-quick wideout duo of Dennard and Office -- both of whom were voted all-league selections at wide receiver at their respective high schools. 

Trailing 18-14 with 2 minutes, 5 seconds in the first game, Dennard caught a short pass down the sideline, cut across the field and sprinted 60 yards for the deciding score. 

After LRS/ASOG took a 25-20 lead with less than three minutes to go in the second game, Dennard and Storm hooked up again on a 60- yard touchdown. 

"It was a stop-and-go play and the safety was playing the slot receiver," Dennard said. "(Storm) had enough time to throw the ball and that's exactly what we wanted -- one-on one coverage. Not too many teams can stop us on that." 

LRS/ASOG led 12-7 at the half of game two on touchdown receptions by Jason Hopper and Eddie Wambolt. But MDG stormed out of the gate as Dennard and Office answered with touchdown receptions of their own to give MDG a 20-12 lead. 

"Our game plan was to not give (Storm) enough time to let Office and Dennard get open," LRS/ASOG defensive back Allen Lazaro said. "They're pretty tough to defend." 

But MDG successfully created mismatches in spite of the pressure on Storm. 

"I knew their defense was keying on me (in game two)," said Office, who hauled in two
long touchdown receptions in the first game. "That opened it up for (Dennard)." 
LRS/ASOG scored twice to nab a brief 25-20 lead before Dennard's heroics. 

LRS/ASOG thought they had won the game on Lazaro's 20-yard touchdown run with seven seconds left, but he was penalized for diving across the goal line into the end zone. 

"That flag was big for us," Dennard said. "It gave us some breathing room on defense."
MDG will now look to defend its intramural basketball title. 

"We're a powerhouse right now," Office said.