YMCA best friends battle it out on the football field

Two best friends faced off Wednesday night in a heated battle between the Flashes and the Golden Eagles.

Nick Lee lives in Vicksburg and attends Bowmar Elementary School. Evan Mallard attends St. Francis Elementary and is a resident of Mound, La. Both are 10 years old and in the fourth grade. They play in the third and fourth grade flag football league at the Vicksburg YMCA.

Lee leads the Golden Eagles, which consists of kids from every elementary school in the Vicksburg-Warren School District. Mallard controls the offense for the Flashes, which only has players from Vicksburg Catholic School.

Both Lee and Mallard started off playing football during summer camp at the Vicksburg YMCA over the past few years. Lee is a first year quarterback while Mallard led the Flashes to a 5-2 season last year to finish in second place in the flag football league.

Both teams needed a victory last night to stay alive in the race for first place.

The Golden Eagles (3-1) suffered a tough loss in in the season opener to the Bovina Elementary Giants (4-0), but since then they have been on a three game winning streak, while the Flashes (1-3) got their first victory last week against the Redwood Elementary Rockets (0-3).

Mallard opened yesterday’s game driving the ball down the field for the Flashes, which resulted in a touchdown making the score 6-0 Flashes on the opening drive.

It wouldn’t take long for Lee to respond with a 60-yard touchdown pass to Jordan Taylor. Before the end of the first half, Lee would find wide receiver Noah Bolton for another score which ending the half with a 14-6 Golden Eagle lead.

Landon Prentiss would have a long touchdown run for a Golden Eagles score in the beginning of the third quarter.

Lee and Mallard battled it out all night, but Lee would eventually lead his team to a victory. The final score was 21-7.

Lee finished the game throwing three touchdown passes, while Mallard rushed for over a hundred yards.

Both Lee and Mallard left the game still being best friends. Mallard will get his rematch next year against Lee in tackle football. Until then, both players will return to the YMCA camp which holds a special place in both their hearts. It’s where their friendship began and where it continues to grow each summer.