DOMINATORS WIN AGAIN

Annual match lives up to overwhelming expectations

Plano, Texas - On Christmas Eve, Mark Rogers and his team, the Dominators, defeated the heavily-favored Patriots in a game that lived up to all the hype.

Facing fourth-and-long with a "first-one-to-five wins" rule in place and tied at four, Mark Rogers flipped a pass to Jennifer Rogers who seemed to be boxed in. At the last second she lateraled back to Mark who split the defense and ran to the endzone for the win.

"It was a great day for the Dominators, " said Mark, the game's MVP. "I have to give all the credit to my teammates. Without Jenn, Jennifer and Allison, we wouldn't have won today - plain and simple."

While Mark was quick to thank his teammates, the Patriots MVP, Brad Rogers, was not the epitome of a teammate.

"Urban and Jeff were worthless today, " he said. "I felt like I was out there all alone doing everything by myself. When you get down that quick to such a quality opponent, it's tough to climb out of that hole. We almost did it, but we found our groove to late - plus Urban and Jeff were worthless."

The early hole was thanks to interception returns for touchdowns on the Patriots first two drives. Urban started at quarterback, and on the second play of the game, Mark picked off a pass and outran the dismayed Patriots quarterback to the sideline and to the end zone for the quick 1-0 lead.

After a nice kick-off return by Brad that gave the Patriots good field position, Mark picked off Urban again, ran it back untouched and the Dominators found themselves up 2-0.

Urban left the game with a -54.3 quarterback rating. Brad replaced him on the ensuing drive and threw a touchdown pass to Jeff Rogers to cut the lead in half.

On the ensuing kick-off, Mark caught Urban's short kick at mid-field and outran the Patriots to paydirt, making the score 3-1.

Jeff caught another touchdown pass on the next drive, and the Patriots were in business. The Dominators offense hit a snag and could not get anything going. They were nearly flagged several times for delay of game. It sometimes took Mark nine minutes to get the play communicated to his team. The teams traded punts in a rare stalemate.

Once the Dominators regained control of the clock, they seemed to find their rhythm. Allison Rogers made the catch of the day - a 35 yard bomb from Mark down to the one yard line. Mark hit Jennifer in the corner of the end zone on the next play which made it 4-2.

That's when Brad took over.

He split time at quarterback and receiver on the next drive and made an unbelievable diving touchdown catch on a pass from Urban to bring the Patriots to within a point. Jennifer had the coverage on the play and was distracted when a transformer blew near the field. Jennifer is appealing the play to the league office.

Needing just one point to win, the Dominators saw their hopes dashed on a crazy play. Mark called a reverse to Jenn and she panicked when Brad started to close in. It seemed the play called for Jenn to lateral back to Mark, instead she threw the ball forward right into the hands of the charging defender, who ran in the tying score. All Jenn could do was scream.

The game was tied. It was a sudden death situation.

"That last drive was pretty intense," said Allison. "We all knew what we needed to do. We've practiced for that opportunity all year. I can't say enough about our coaching."

The Dominators took over at their own five in the pressure situation. On third down Mark dropped back to pass and could not find an open receiver. After what seemed like an eternity, Jennifer broke free. Mark flipped it to her Brett-Favre-style and when the defense closed in, she alertly flipped it back to Mark who ran to the end zone for the win.

"I knew if I could just get open, we'd have a chance," said Jennifer. "When I caught the ball and saw them all closing in, I found Mark and knew he'd take care of the rest. He's so awesome."

All two people in the stands did not make much of a cheering sound as to not make the losing team mad. One of the spectators, one-year-old Annalyse Rogers, did not even know what was happening.

The game will forever be lost to memory (except for this story) because the other spectator and "camera-woman" accidentally hit the record button and recorded the ground for fifteen minutes.

"Don't be critical," she said after the game.

Urban declined comment in the locker room, claiming his knees hurt too bad to talk. He fell down on almost every play.

Jeff, the leading tackler for the Patriots, would not take questions but gave this statement:
"It was a good game. Both teams played hard. I'm happy for my wife Allison. She is a great athlete and made a great catch that seemed to put the game away. I am hungry. When are we eating. Where am I?"

Jenn had this to say, "AAAAAAAAAAAAAAGGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!"

The Dominators now have a 2-0 lead in the all-time series. The next game will be during Thanksgiving break in 2008. Let the hype begin again.