58th AS grabs base flag football championship Published Nov. 3, 2008 By Kevin Chandler 97th Air Mobility Wing Public Affairs ALTUS AIR FORCE BASE, Okla. -- The 58th Airlift Squadron's flag football team used an unstoppable passing attack and solid defense to win the Altus Air Force Base flag football championship. Since the play-offs were a double-elimination tournament, the 58th team had to beat a talented 97th Comptroller Squadron team twice to claim the trophy. The 58th started the first game with a touchdown on their very first play from scrimmage. Steve Lindmark caught a pass from Buddy Martens and blazed down the sideline for the score. The CPTS defense stiffened though and the rest of the half saw little scoring from either team. CPTS narrowed the lead just before halftime when Levatra Thomas completed a long pass to Marcus Lindsey and then scored on a quarterback sneak. The teams traded scoring drives but the 58th offensive attack was too much for the CPTS defense to contain. Mike Morales had several big catches, Chris Cobb made plays out of the backfield and Jake Raser broke free from the line for quick pass completions. Mike Lewis and Andy Ratliff provided a strong pass rush for the 58th defense, keeping the Comptroller offense from establishing a rhythm. While Thomas was able to complete passes to Lindsey and Nathan Burger, the CPTS offense had difficulty scoring enough points to catch up to the 58th. Judd Baker, 58th AS coach and defensive back, spoke highly of the CPTS team. "Those guys were great competitors," he said, "all our games went down to the wire. They only lost once during the regular season, so it was an honor to beat them." While the Comptroller team breezed through the regular season, the 58th team started the season with four straight losses. "Most of our players were gone for hurricane evacuations and relief," said Baker, "we were having trouble just finding enough people to play." The team rebounded and won seven straight to make it into the play-offs. That momentum carried them to the championship round and eventually led them to the title.