Noblesville is among the teams that have advanced through the tournament trail that began with 25 schools to make up the final four in the Inaugural Unified Flag Football State Finals this Saturday.
Two semifinal games – Tippecanoe Valley vs. Noblesville and Ben Davis vs. Bedford North Lawrence – will be played simultaneously beginning at 4 p.m. at the Indiana Farm Bureau Football Center, the training facility of the Indianapolis Colts. The state championship game begins 30 minutes after those games conclude.
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 is the 22nd sport sponsored by the IHSAA and the second co-ed sport joining Unified Track and Field which debuted in 2014.
The linked video was posted last spring on the Champions Together program and Unified Flag Football in particular.
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 midfield 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.
Click here to view the Official Rules.
