Drew Thompson and the Valley Unified Flag Football team will look to defend its sectional championship on Oct. 3 at the Warsaw Sectional. InkFreeNews file photo by Mike Deak

Staff Report

INDIANAPOLIS – The Indiana High School Athletic Association announced the pairings for the third annual Unified Flag Football State Tournament Series.

Thirty-two(32) teams have entered this year’s state tournament and are spread across eight sectionals to be played on Saturday, Oct. 3. The eight teams that emerge as sectional champions will move on to one of two regionals on Saturday, Oct. 10 with the two remaining teams advancing to the state championship game on Saturday, Oct. 17 at the Grand Park Sports Event Center in Westfield.

Locally, the Warsaw Sectional No. 2 will feature matchups of Goshen versus Wawasee opposite of Warsaw versus Tippecanoe Valley. The two winners will meet for the sectional title, to which Tippecanoe Valley is the two-time defending champion. Warsaw will announce its start times in the near future.

The Warsaw sectional winner will take on the winner from Central Noble in the regional, where the other regional game will see winners from Valparaiso and Manchester.

Unified Sports enables persons with and without intellectual disabilities to participate on the same team for sports training and competition as part of the “Champions Together”partnership between the IHSAA and Special Olympics Indiana.

Unified Flag Football, played on a 25-yard by 40-yard field, is five-on-five with three athletes and two unified partners to a side. Teams play two 20-minute halves with a touchdown worth six points, an extra point from the five-yard line worth one point while two points are added for a successful play from the 10-yard line. Two points may also be scored for a safety.

Starting on its five-yard line, a team has four plays to cross mid-field, then an additional four plays to score a touchdown.

Failure to cross mid-field or score a touchdown in the prescribed number of plays results in a change of possession starting at the opposing team’s own five-yard line.

Unified Flag Football is one of 22 sports sponsored by the IHSAA and one of two co-ed sports along with Unified Track and Field which debuted in 2014.