Slam Shows Its Stuff
But Victory Eludes St. Louis’ Women’s Football Team
BY JOY OVINGTON

While amazing Americans are off defending freedom overseas, our own homegrown brand of fighting heroes are brandishing the American Dream of women playing full-contact football. History was made in the trenches of Gateway Technical High School on Saturday, April 12 when the St. Louis Slam took on the Kansas City Krunch. The teams of the National Women's Football Association have already blown the minds of fans across the nation as they begin the 2003 season.

In the very first series of inaugural season play, after 3 runs and a pass, the Slam had scored its first touchdown. Now it begins! Markie Copeland (#34) promptly broke three tackles toward a first down. Play continued and Kansas City had its first interception followed by a holding call.

In the second quarter, Carla Myers (#10) laid pressure on the Krunch quarterback — pass incomplete. Defensive Back Meschele Darden (#40) nabbed an interception at the third-and-thirteen point but, at first-and-ten, the next hand-off was fumbled. It was the Slam's Pat Riggins (#28) who snatched it up and, with Copeland in the backfield with her, ran for an extra 10 yards.

After lost yardage by both teams and a false start, Krunch #53, Andrea O'Neal, scored the first KC touchdown after returning a fumble. The next kickoff found the Slam's Heather Bigott (#89) returning the ball to the 40 yard line for the Slam. After a time-out, the fueled-up Slam duo of Bigott and quarterback Jennifer Layer (#19) passed three times before a pass interference 6-yard loss for the Krunch put the Slam ball at the goal-line. Krunch Defense held. By halftime, even though the KC Offense got as close as 6 yards away from scoring, no more points had hit the board. The game remained tied 6-6.

Halftime was the time for everyone else to play! Kids got to play on-field games with the Parkway South Roller Hockey Cheerleaders who had been exuberantly tossing little logo footballs, beads, towels to wave in the air and other goo-gahs out into the cheering stands. Of note was the lone cheerleader dude, an instant fan favorite, as he catapulted himself across the field with one round-off multi-back handspringed maneuver after another.

How many people showed? Oh, just a few family and friends. They only printed 500 tickets and those were reportedly gone by halftime. They also ran out of programs, ice, trinkets and a few other assorted minor gotta-haves, but with folks like team sponsor Nancy Novak and also Terri Willits on hand, things were quickly resolved and the fans stayed happy.

It was "Old Home Night" in the stands for a while as all the folks who came out of the winter woodwork caught up, met buddies' families, ran to take breaks, cruise-n-flirt, buy Slam gear by another sponsor called JenWorks By Design and get treats before play resumed. All the while the cheerleaders were doin' their thang. Slam halftimes are destined to become an ultimate experience, trust me!

Honestly, the second half wasn't quite as exciting — basic ball-busting (hey, a new meaning!) football — with both teams playing well save a handful of penalties, incomplete passes, false starts and fumbles, one of which took the Krunch's #77, Jennifer House, out with a broken wrist before the third quarter's 2-minute warning was heard. With about a minute left, the Slam went for a field goal and Virginia "Ginny" Assousa (#60), couldn't get it straightened out and through the posts, although she's got one helluva foot on her.

I cruised the stands to get some first impressions of the Slam. Offensive Back Rhonda Hembree had a veritable fan club there — Sherrill Wayland and Andrew Harris both said they were positively taken aback by what they were witnessing. When I pressed them to tell me what they really thought, they offered: Maybe the otherwise tight Offense could mix up its plays more, and perhaps the announcer could learn how to pronounce player names. A functional loudspeaker would also be helpful.

It was indeed hard to hear and that is an integral piece of the football-watching experience. I spoke to a few others, and specific delights included QB Layer's spirals and hard-hitting Defense ... making some of the Krunchers blow nose bubbles!

Yeah, the Defensive Line put pressure on the Krunch Quarterbacks all night long. Kim "Jolly" Allen (#91) and Andrea "Dru" Baker (#68), both Defensive Tackles, simply would not allow Kansas City to run the ball up the middle on their home turf. The Slam repeatedly forced the Krunch QBs to leave the pocket and make rushed decisions. This first game is a great indication of the potential powerhouse of a Defense the Slam has — definitely a force to be reckoned with.

I sneaked over to the sidelines to chat up Angela Coonce (#53) — who was down in the dumps. The week before, she injured her knee as did another Defensive Back, Rebecca "Becca" Compton (#55). You could tell they wanted to play so badly! Coonce admitted that the Krunch brought something to the field that night that they hadn't seen in a previous scrimmage with them, but that the Slam was rising to the occasion and playing better than it ever did in practice. Compton, a Team Captain, was getting around as best she could wearing a leg brace, hobbling out onto the field for coin-tosses.

The latest news on the pair is that Coonce is being spared the agony of surgery because she's still in one piece and may be back before season-end. Compton's season may not be so bright as her ACL requires surgery, reportedly at a later date.

Meanwhile, I propose the Slam invest in an orange Harley Dyna Wide Glide, perch the ever-popular Ms. Becca Brogan on the back (sporting her sunglasses and black tee complete with a rhinestoned #55 on it!) and have Compton captain her team by cruising out to the center for anything and everything, not just coin tosses, to get the crowd going even more (and, of course, to instill envy and fear into the hearts of any opposing team). Only in The Lou!

Back to the game's second half. The collective stars were pretty much on the Slam Defense. They shut down the Krunch Offense early on and held it until the second overtime when, after one valiant goal-line stand after another, the Slam just ran out of juice — Kansas City eventually scored and won the game 12-6... again, in double overtime!