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Lauren E. Toney
For the Sun-News
LAS CRUCES - Officials with the Las Cruces Police Department secured a narrow victory against rivals from the city's fire department Saturday afternoon in a friendly game of flag football to benefit the La Casa domestic violence shelter.
Officers succeeded in avenging last year's loss to the firefighters with a strong defense throughout the game and tenacious offensive players who sprung into action in the last quarter to bring the tight match to a close with a score of 8-6.
The seventh annual rivalry game took place Saturday at the New Mexico State University practice field where officers wore white-and-blue uniforms and firefighters wore red and white. Following this year's game, Las Cruces' Finest now lead in the overall series with four wins.
"It feels great to have the trophy back where it belongs," Officer Ricky Bardwell said. "We played with a lot of heart out there."
Other than a few muscle cramps, none of the players sustained any injuries and officers refrained from arresting any of their opponents when the penalty flag was thrown.
Although the game was tied in the third quarter, "our offense was like the nail in the coffin in the fourth quarter," Bardwell added. "Lots of practice definitely paid off."
The friendly rivalry between city police officers and firefighters has helped to grow the annual competition, he said.
Seven years ago, fewer than 30 officers and firefighters played in the first game at a
"We're hoping to hold next year's game at one of the stadiums here in Las Cruces," said Officer Mark Dominguez. "We've come a long way and hope to continue to see more and more community involvement in the coming years."
Officials this year chose to involve a local charity in the annual match and saw more supporters than ever in attendance.
Spectators of Saturday's game filled several bags with donations of nonperishable food items to be delivered to the La Casa domestic violence shelter in Las Cruces. The shelter offers safe housing, counseling and other support services to victims of domestic violence and their children.
Firefighter Steve Alexander said he and the rest of Las Cruces' Bravest "don't like to lose, but we'll regroup, we'll practice and we'll be ready to compete and win back the trophy next year.
"Both sides are very competitive, to say the least, but it's a friendly rivalry."
Lauren E. Toney can be reached at (575) 541-5447; ltoney@lcsun-news.com.
