The first of four Tucson Turf Elite flag-football teams — 12U Chargers — to compete in the prestigious NFL FLAG Championships at Canton, Ohio, got off to a 3-0 start Thursday.
The games are scheduled at the ForeverLawn Sports Complex at the Hall of Fame Village at the Pro Football Hall of Fame. ESPN’s family of networks and NFL Network will have 33 hours of live coverage of the event starting at 7 a.m., Tucson time, Friday.
The Chargers defeated the BNA Elite Bills of Florida, 19-18; the Spartans Cowboys of Austin, Texas, 20-7; and the KC Shockers of Kansas City, 34-7.
The three games in pool play decided the seeding for the single-elimination bracket that starts Friday.
The Chargers have already advanced to the second round of the tournament by virtue of a forfeit by the Ghost Rider Dolphins of Miami.
The Tucson Turf team will play an opponent to be determined at 1:55 p.m., Tucson time, on Friday.
Emeron Bourguet, son of Tucson Turf founder Toby Bourguet, is a member of the Chargers. Toby Bourguet’s oldest sons Trent, Treyson and Coben each advanced from a Tucson Turf background to play Division I college football — Trent and Coben at Arizona State and Treyson at BYU.
His daughter Rylen is pursuing her dream to play for the United States’ flag football team in the 2028 Olympics at Los Angeles. She has played in various U.S. team trials and NFL FLAG championships.
Tucson Turf has won more than 30 national titles in flag football and 7-on-7 competition.
The other Tucson Turf Elite teams in Canton are the 12U Girls Broncos, 10U Raiders and the 8U Cardinals.
The Broncos, Raiders, and Cardinals begin their competition Friday with each competing in three games of pool play.
Marana’s incoming freshman quarterback Izzie Garcia (who is a year advanced with her academics) is a member of the Broncos team (she is third from the left in the top row of the following photo).
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