Three Hamilton County schools will participate in the IHSAA’s first ever Unified Flag Football State Tournament.
Noblesville will serve as one of the eight sectional hosts. The Millers will play Blackford at 1 p.m. on Sept. 29, with the winner of that game playing Marion in a 2:15 p.m. semi-final game. Also at 2:15, Fishers will play Mississinewa in the second semi-final. The championship is scheduled for 3:30 p.m.
Carmel will play a semi-final game with Ben Davis at 10 a.m., also on Sept. 29. The winner will take on Warren Central in the championship, which will begin 30 minutes after the conclusion of the semi-final game.
Twenty-five teams have entered the inaugural state tournament. The teams that emerge as sectional champions will move on to a single regional championship game on Saturday, Oct. 6 with the four remaining teams advancing to the state finals on Saturday, Oct. 13 at the Indiana Farm Bureau Football Center, the training facility of the Indianapolis Colts.
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. (The Official Rules can be found at this link).
Unified Flag Football is the 22nd sport sponsored by the IHSAA and the second co-ed sport joining Unified Track and Field which debuted in 2014.
