Guns beat Hoses in charity cops vs. firefighters flag football game

Shasta County’s cops beat its firefighters Saturday in a 32-13 win in the second-ever Guns ‘n’ Hoses flag football game at Big League Dreams.

Saturday was the second time the Hoses fell to the Guns, thanks largely to two key interceptions by the Guns defense and three touchdown receptions by Jeremy Kenyon, the game’s top scorer from the Shasta County Probation Department.

Though the whole point of the charity football game was to raise money for the Shasta Women’s Refuge, the competition between the two teams was very real, though good-natured.

“Ahhhh, I was hungry,” bellowed Josh Rodine, a husky Shasta County sheriff’s service officer, as he was marching off the field after being swapped out of the game in the first half.

The Guns sideline chuckled, but that intensity served the Guns well. After all, the officers’ 18 players were outnumbered by the firefighters’ 22-person squad.

“We’re taking this a little bit more seriously this year,” said Redding Fire Department spokesman Jeff Granberry when asked about the number of red shirts on the sideline.

Redding Police Chief Peter Hansen, who, like Granberry, watched the game from the sidelines, joked before kickoff that the cops were going to have to make some 911 fire calls to even the players out.

Such good-natured high-jinks spread to the players.

During the pre-game meeting at mid-field, a red-shirted Hose grinned and made the classic two-fingered “I’ve got my eyes on you” gesture to a rival Gun.

The cop grinned back.

As those two goofed off, Shasta County sheriff’s correctional officer Larry Tanner flipped a ball behind his back on the sly, hitting Hose Josh Peard of the Shasta County Fire Department, causing Peard to look around. Tanner’s grin gave him away, and he put a friendly arm around Peard’s shoulder.

But the mood during the game wasn’t always so jovial, but most of the teams’ ire was geared toward the referees.

“Come on ref!” shouted one cop from the sideline after a referee called a play in favor of the Hoses in the third quarter. “Why don’t you put a Hoses jersey on!”

When a firefighter in the fourth quarter all but tackled a cop (a big no-no in flag football) much to-do was made by the Hoses that the call was bunk.

“Hey, come on, he was just going for the ball,” one Hose yelled.

The fans ate it up.

“I love them all,” said Pat Nelsen, 64, of Anderson. “They’re all just darlings.”

Both teams may have wanted the bragging rights, but the real winner today was the Women’s Refuge, Granberry said.

“Ultimately as much rivalry there is there’s camaraderie too,” he said before the game. “As much grief as we flick each other’s way, it’s really just an honor to be here today.”

He paused.

“It’ll be more of an honor when we win,” he said, grinning.

Well, for Granberry, there’s always next year.

By Ryan Sabalow

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