Noe’s league all fun for CdM

(For video of the semifinal game between the Bills and the Saints, click on the video link at www.dailypilot.com.)

With the game on the line and the chance to play in the championship, Ford Noe didn’t hesitate to go for two points instead of the tie on Sunday at Corona del Mar High. That’s his style.

When he makes up his mind, he goes at it and doesn’t hold back, no matter the outcome. In this instance, the result didn’t come the way he wanted, but back in January he made a choice to start a flag football league and what followed has been something satisfying and even memorable.

Noe, a senior who played football at Corona del Mar, organized a six-team flag football league. It’s called “The League” and it’s made up of CdM students. It also includes team names, jerseys and even a league website, that features game video highlights, rosters and statistics. His friend, Kyle Tomlin, helped with building the website.

To keep that going, throughout the season, at one time or another, Noe has been the league’s commissioner, referee, statistician and publicity director.

This week, Noe has been spreading the word even more around school. He wants a big crowd to show up for The League’s Super Bowl, the championship game scheduled Sunday at 3 p.m. on the field within Corona del Mar High’s track.

He started the league as a means for fun and he knows a big crowd would help produce that atmosphere. He also created the league because, frankly, he never really wanted his senior football season to end. It included a huge win over Back Bay rival Newport Harbor and his only hope is that more memories such as that one could come about on a field with flags and friends.

When they do play, they joke around, trash talk and perform outlandish touchdown celebrations — the sillier the better. But that doesn’t mean the game is not intense.

“It’s pretty heated,” Noe said. “I’m not going to lie. It’s not something people joke around about. People don’t miss the games. Some of the guys who play have their stats sheets out in class and read them over, and sometimes the teachers have to say, ‘Will you put that away.’ ”

The League is serious business. There was more than that spot in the championship up for grabs when Noe’s Bills played against the Saints on Sunday. Bragging rights were on the line, too. Everyone wants to be the best in The League. Even those who are eliminated.

Tony Jones of the Bills stood after the semifinal loss on Sunday and recited his statistics to himself, or to anyone who would hear. Thirteen catches, two touchdowns. He had his best game of the season, that included five weeks of the regular season and two weeks for the playoffs.

The League has been a serviceable outlet for former varsity football players and also for a senior like Jones. He played football as a freshman but never continued because he wanted to focus on academics. The League allowed him to return to the game.

It also provided some practice time for Austin Riager. He’s a junior who started out at Corona del Mar, transferred to Newport Harbor and now attends Monte Vista Back Bay High. He’s set to come back to CdM and play for the Sea Kings in the fall.

He showed he can definitely play on Sunday, scoring touchdowns and following one of them up with a quirky celebration. He dunked the football into a trash can as he ran past it with same type of jaunt soccer players use after scoring a goal.

Riager also made other big plays.

After Noe decided to go for two in the semifinal, Riager made him pay for it. Riager knocked down the pass in the end zone on the two-point conversion attempt. The Saints won, 12-11.

Riager, despite tweaking his ankle earlier in the game, wanted his team, made up of juniors, to advance so they could face all the seniors on the Chargers, a squad that’s undefeated and includes star quarterback Taylor Hughes.

The game was seven on seven, and it didn’t matter if the Saints were a man down, they were not going to be denied.

Hayley Adler, Hunter Adler’s sister, substituted in for the Saints.

“I didn’t want to quit,” Riager said. “I didn’t want to let them down. We would have had an even harder chance of winning if I sat out.”

Not being able to play in the championship might be a blessing in disguise for Noe. He’ll have more freedom to officiate and make sure the game remains fun.

After all, the majority of the players are his friends. The teams are mainly made up of athletes who compete in other sports at Corona del Mar.

Noe, an All-Newport Mesa outside linebacker last fall, just really wants to make sure the season plays out.

Last year, he saw how another flag football league fizzled early and never finished. He didn’t want that to happen to The League, even if it meant being chased by a baseball bat.

Before the playoffs, the players competed at Andersen Intermediate, but Noe said a Little League coach came poking at him with a baseball bat, telling him to find somewhere else to play.

“I saw that this field was open [at CdM] and I just kept my fingers crossed that it would stay that way,” he said. “This is fun for seniors who are done with football and are not going to play again. It’s their way to play again.”

Noe has had help throughout the season. Steven Hillgren, the Daily Pilot’s Dream Team Player of the Year who is bound for Georgetown, does not play in the league, but he supports it. He’s out with an injured back, but on Sunday he was jotting statistics on the game.

After the semifinal loss, Noe’s girlfriend, Kara Jones, helped clean up and throw away all the empty water bottles. Ricky Townsend of the Saints and Charlie Albright of the Chargers also helped.

Turns out, Townsend will be extending some more help even after the title game. Next year, he plans to take over for Noe organizing The League.

The chance of the league continuing would be a bonus for Noe.