During the first game of San Diego American Flag Football League (SDFFL) action on April 1, the Martinis Above Fourth Eagles beat the Bourbon Street Hurricanes 40-12 to remain undefeated.

In the first play of the game, the Hurricanes passed the ball only to have it intercepted by Tom Scholar, who ran it to the 12-yard line for a first down. Two plays later, Eagles quarterback Jesse Remar completed a pass to H.T. Bennett for the first score of the game. The Hurricanes were finding it difficult to make their passes, and in the end didn’t make up much ground before turning the ball back over to the Eagles.

After the spectacular start of the game, the Eagles had a slight hiccup and couldn’t manage to break through the Hurricanes’ defense. Very little yardage had been exchanged due to strong defensive play on both sides. The Hurricanes tried a couple of short passes, but were stopped short by the Eagles’ defense. In a last-ditch effort to gain some yardage, Hurricanes quarterback Abe Velarde threw a long pass, but it was intercepted by the Eagles’ Todd May, who picked up a few yards after the catch. A couple of short passes and a first down later, Shon Fields intercepted a pass and ran it to the 45-yard line. The Hurricanes took the interception as a change in tempo and completed a pass to Daniel Muñoz for a first down at the 18-yard line.

The next play saw the completion of a Hail Mary pass, but there had been a flag on the play. The penalty was declined and it was a first down at the 2-yard line. Feeling the danger, the Eagles’ Michael Paganelli stepped up the pressure and sacked the Velarde for a 2-yard loss. The Hurricanes shrugged it off and completed a pass to Muñoz for their first score to come within a point at 7-6.

The Eagles stepped up their game once again and completed a pass to Patrick Czar for a first down. In the next play, Bennett took a hand-off and ran for a first down. He would have scored, as he had nothing but wide open field in front of him, but he slipped out of bounds on the sideline. Remar threw a long bomb to Jason Hefley for the second score of the game. The Eagles tried for the extra point, but missed, bringing their lead to 13-6.

After the restart, the Hurricanes got a first down at the 45-yard line and Muñoz caught a long pass for a first down. The Eagles kicked their defense up a notch and forced a hasty throw from Velarde, who managed to find his mark, but with a 10-yard penalty on the play. The second- and third-down passes were both incomplete and the Hurricanes were unable to get the first down.

The Eagles took possession of the ball and completed a long pass to May for the first down at the 2-yard line. After an incomplete second-down pass, Jason Wang caught the ball for a touchdown to bring the Eagles’ lead to 20-6.

Down 14 points at halftime, the Hurricanes sought to stop the Eagles’ offense and put some points of their own on the board. They were doing a good job of holding the Eagles, who had three incomplete passes in the first plays of the second half. Then, while the Eagles were trying for a fourth-down play, Vinny Adame intercepted the ball and made a 50-yard run to score. The Hurricanes tried for the extra point, but missed, cutting the Eagles’ lead to 20-12.

Spirits seemed to rise on the Hurricanes team as they found themselves back in the game. The Eagles, however, were not about to give up their lead so easily. A long completed pass to Hefley resulted in another Eagles score for a 27-12 lead.

The Hurricanes took the last score as a slap in the face and tried an ambitious pass, only to have it intercepted by Ric Coy for a first down at the 19-yard line. A short pass to Wang resulted in a first down at the 6-yard line, but by this time the Hurricanes had had enough.

The Hurricanes stepped up their defense and kept the Eagles from completing their next two passes. The Eagles went for a fourth down play, but the pass was intercepted by Kyle Fiddelke for a first down. A short run and a long pass to Fields resulted in a first down at the 12-yard line.

A completed pass to Bennett resulted in a first down, but C.J. Davila broke through and sacked Remar at the line of scrimmage on the next play. This time, it was the Hurricanes’ defense who stepped it up. After an incomplete third-down pass, the Eagles kicked on the fourth down. Muñoz caught the ball but slipped and made no yardage from the initial catch.

The Hurricanes were having difficulty with their long passes, so they tried a short pass, but it was incomplete. Another short pass to Muñoz resulted in a 2-yard gain, but the third-down pass was intercepted by Scholar for a first down at the 10-yard line. Sensing the opportunity, the Eagles went for a short inside pass, but Velarde deflected it for an incomplete. Stepping up the defense once again, the Hurricanes managed to stop the next pass as well, but with a pass-interference call on the play, it became first down at the 1-yard line. The Eagles completed a short pass to Hefley just over the line of scrimmage for their fifth score of the game and a 34-12 lead. They added one more touchdown to seal the win.

The Eagles improved to 2-0, while the Hurricanes fell to 0-2.

In other action, the Longhorns went into this week on the heels of a win, but lost to the Gators, who followed their recent defeat with a 32-12 victory. The Knights came off a win against the Gators last week only to lose to the Gladiators 14-13. All four teams are now 1-1 for the season.

Games on Saturday, April 8, will start at 9:00 a.m. at the Cherokee Point Elementary School, located at 3901 Landis St.

Pecs defeated the Rego Law Diegans 16-6 during their first game in America’s Finest City Softball League (AFCSL) action on April 3.

The Diegans started strong, scoring three runs during their first at bat. Pecs answered with four runs of their own in the bottom of the first inning. Both teams played strong defense, but Pecs seemed to have a slight advantage on offense.

The second inning saw no runs for the Diegans and eight more for Pecs, bringing their lead to 12-3.

The Diegans came back and closed the gap a bit with three more runs off base hits and a couple of errors, but they were struggling and playing catch-up the rest of the game. Pecs, on the other hand, seemed to be having a field day, making hits and capitalizing on holes effectively to seal the victory.

There will be no Open Division games at Poway this weekend due to the Saguaro Cup in Phoenix. There will be Women’s Division games at Hourglass Field, located at 10440 Black Mountain Rd. in Mira Mesa, from 10:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m.

The San Diego Armada Rugby Football Club will be hosting a Rugby 101 Clinic at Chula Vista High School, located at 820 Fourth Ave. in Chula Vista, at 11:30 a.m. on Saturday, April 8. This will be an introductory session designed for beginners to become familiar with the game, and is open to all. E-mail rsvp@sdarmada.org to reserve a spot.

Immediately following the clinic, the Armada will play the L.A. Rebellion. These two teams are both members of the International Gay Rugby Association and Board (IGRAB), and this will be one of the last games of the season. Kickoff begins at 1:30 p.m. After the game, both teams will head over to The Hole, located at 2820 Lytton St.