San Quentin’s All-Madden flag football team opened their season with a 27-14 victory over The Chosen.
Adam Perez, former Milpitas High School quarterback, led The Chosen as their team captain. With him was Andre Jackson, his receiver at Milpitas High. Jackson is normally on the basketball court playing for Bill Epling’s Green Team.
“Basketball is cool, but football is my first love,” Jackson stated before the game. “We just came to play and share some brotherly love.”
On the third play of the opening drive, Jackson put a double-move on All-Madden defensive back Ruben Harper and slipped behind safety DuPriest Brown to catch a 30-yard pass up the left sideline from Dante Perez (no relation to Adam Perez), who started the game at quarterback. Dante Perez played at the collegiate level for North Dakota State. Jackson caught two passes for 38-yards on the scoring drive.
Royce “Gator” Rose is the All-Madden quarterback and team captain, but their first two possessions were sub par. Rose threw an interception to Jackson on his second play of the possession. The Chosen’s second possession, Dante Perez threw an interception to All-Madden linebacker Cleo “Black” Cloman.
On their third possession, Adam Perez stepped in as quarterback and threw a 17-yard strike, followed by a bad snap the next play, losing 17 yards. Adam then cocked back and hit Jackson with a 45-yard strike that dropped between the All- Madden defensive back Granval “Buddha” Hunter and the safety Brown, scoring a spectacular touchdown; Jackson then caught the two- point conversion, giving The Chosen a 14 – 0 lead.
On their third possession, All-Madden sustained a 15 play scoring drive that included a 17-yard strike to Curtis “Wall St” Carroll, an eight-yard scamper by Christopher “Cuddy Bo” Smith, a six-yard completion to Charles “Pookie” Sylvester, and an eight-yard completion to Smith. The drive culminated in a two-yard touchdown run by Rose, making the score 14-6.
At halftime (as well as the beginning and ending of every game), members of The Chosen shared their personal experience, as well as how being a person of faith affect their lives. “I really appreciate the fact that you guys invite us to this environment and, believe me, you impact us as we as we impact you every week,” said Don Nelson, one of the founding members of Christian Sports Ministries. The Ministries have brought teams into San Quentin for 15-plus years.
In the second half, All-Madden began to heat up. The team ran for a total of 32 yards on the opening drive of the second half, 15 of those on a QB draw by Rose; however, no score.
Jackson didn’t play in the second half due to a pulled calf muscle. The Chosen threw an interception on their first play, putting All-Madden in striking distance. Rose responded with a six-yard scoring toss to Smith, followed by a completion to Carroll for the two-point conversion.
On The Chosen’s next possession, Adam Perez threw two back-to-back strikes for 34 yards, but the drive ended with a 15-yard sack by All Madden defensive end Zaid Nicholson; C. Smith caught his second touchdown pass of the game, a completion in the back of the end zone that was questionable due to the official’s delayed touchdown signal.
All-Madden’s last offensive possession was just four plays that began as a disaster, but ended in a 37-yard touchdown pass to Cloman that he had to tip to himself as he was falling down –– but the one-point conversion was incomplete.
Adam Perez threw an interception to All-Madden safety Brown with 16 on the clock that ended the game.
“This is what it’s all about, just playing football. It doesn’t matter where; it’s still football,” said Adam Perez after the game.
