By Patrick Z. McGavin-Photos by Renee Kaspar
**Additional Photos are Available for purchase at https://justallsports.zenfolio.com/p241001776 **
WEST CHICAGO—Of any player who might have seen him breaking free and could engineer the perfect throw, Angel Ortiz saw the familiar shape and figure rolling left and creating space.
The man with the ball was his older brother Michael Ortiz, the captain and all-purpose star of the Silent Assassins flag football team.
“He’s my brother, and he put it out there for me,” Angel Ortiz said. “I’ve been playing receiver my whole life, and he just trusts me in that situation to make the play.”
Their 33-yard touchdown connection ignited the Silent Assassins’ 26-0 victory over the Pitbulls here at West Chicago on Sunday, March 10, in the season debut of the Players League.
Eight-man flag football is the standard format in Illinois and other Midwestern states, according to Michael Schramer, the founder of the first-year league.
The Players League is a new seven-team collection of area programs.
On offense, any of the eight players are eligible receivers. The traditional formation is a quarterback operating in shotgun, with a three-man blocking wall, and four receivers.
The games are played with two 20-minute halves. The first half is conducted under a continuously running clock. The second half runs uninterrupted until the final two minutes, where it stops for incomplete passes or plays that end out of bounds.
The Ortiz brothers Michael, Angel and George Ortiz (their jerseys are identified as “Ortiz 1,” “Ortiz II,” “Ortiz III”), are the animating force of the five-year program.
Their father, Mikey Ortiz, the patriarch, was a legendary quarterback in local flag football culture. Mikey Ortiz suffered an injury last year, and had to give up playing.
His sons carry on the tradition and family lore.
Michael Ortiz is the captain and leader of the team. A three-sport athlete at Ridgewood High School in Norridge, he is the connective thread.
“Not just my own brothers, but I’ve known most of the guys on our team since grammar school,” Michael Ortiz said. “My dad was the quarterback for so many years, about 15, and he had great knowledge of the sport and position.
“I’ve been in the league awhile now, and I’m starting to get all the knowledge my dad had.”
Michael Ortiz set up the opening score touchdown pass to his brother with the first of his three interceptions, making a diving stab off a tipped pass by the Pitbulls.
Brian Allen pushed the lead out to 14-0 with a 39-yard interception return touchdown.
“I was just looking at the quarterback, and seeing how he was going to go with the ball, and I just jumped the route,” Allen said.
The league is “contact flag,” meaning the play is stopped by the pulling out of the flag or down by contact.
“I’ve always been a skill player type of guy,” Allen said. “My main sport is basketball. I’m a point guard. I also play shortstop in baseball. I’m a receiver, defensive back, or punt returner. I’ve always been the athletic guy.
“This team has been together for about four or five years. We practice every once in a while, but honestly we’ve all known each other for so long, we just come out here, and do our thing, and everything just works. It all connects.”
Michael Ortiz and Allen also collaborated on the team’s third touchdown early in the second half. The alert and dynamic ballhawking skills of Michael Ortiz paid off with his second interception near midfield.
Catching a wave of blockers, Michael Ortiz dashed down the left hash mark and appeared to be on the verge of scoring. With various Pitbull players catching up, Ortiz made a deft lateral to Allen at the four-yard line.
Allen took the ball the rest of the way for the third touchdown.
“We have a connection out there, and I knew he was going to pitch it, and I was there,” Allen said. “We’ve been together for a while.”
Michael Ortiz and Allen met when they were in the second grade when they attended the same after-school program.
Michael Ortiz and his brother George Ortiz alternated at quarterback.
George Ortiz connected on a 22-yard pass with receiver George Vidas that set up their final touchdown drive. Under the league rules, teams have four downs to reach the opposition’s 40-yard line and 20-yard line.
Vidas completed the scoring with a sharp 12-yard pass from George Ortiz.
Vidas played high school at Taft on the northwest side of the city and played collegiately at Lake Forest.
“After school, I wanted to keep playing and stay competitive, and this was a great way to stay active,” Vidas said. “With eight-man, there is so much creativity and what you can do with the ball. I just like that everybody is able to catch the ball.
“Offensively, you can have multiple quarterbacks. You can run a formation that’s all ‘skinny,’ with skill guys, or a formation with all big boys. I just love how everybody can get involved.”
At Lake Forest, Vidas ran a lot of jet sweeps, ostensibly making him a running back. “I just developed my hands, and my route running,” he said.
The game is more physical than the perception of what playing flag entails. Injuries, like the broken toe that the father of the Ortiz brothers suffered, are fairly common.
“The game is as close to 11-man tackle football as you are going to get,” Michael Ortiz said. “The only thing missing are the three extra linemen. It’s 100 percent contact flag football, so you go out there and put your body on the line, make some plays and make some blocks.
“It’s awesome, and it keeps that competitive spirit going.”