New Public Safety Football Team Snaps To it!!

Phillip Dillon limped to the sidelines.

“Ah. I pulled — a delicate muscle, shall I say?”

The 45-year-old Roanoke fire captain walked off his injury and was soon back in the huddle with his teammates, several former college football players and a former professional football player among them.

Monday was the third time that the Roanoke Rampage, a newly formed, minor league football team, has practiced.

The players are all firefighters, police officers and sheriff’s deputies throughout the Roanoke and New River valleys, and the team is one of 25 in the National Public Safety Football League, which was established 12 years ago.

The Rampage’s season begins in April.

The disparities among the 49 players are vast. The oldest player is 53 — 30 years older than the youngest player. The heaviest player is 330 pounds, more than double the weight of the lightest player.

And the most experienced player is Roanoke County police Officer Jermaine Hardy, a former safety for the Carolina Panthers. Hardy, a William Fleming High School graduate, will play safety and running back. He’ll be on the field with a few guys whose experience is limited to throwing the pigskin around in a back yard.

For all their differences, the team was focused and organized during Monday’s two-hour practice at the Edge Sports Performance Center in Roanoke.

Todd Stone, a Roanoke fire captain who helped establish the team, led about 30 players through drills and offensive plays.

He also distributed playbooks and encouraged the players to study them.

“When you are in your police cruiser at 2 a.m., bored, running radar, pull out your playbook,” he said. “When you’re at the fire house, after you’ve studied your map books, study” the playbook.

Soon the team will be getting help from Doug Jones, head coach of the Virginia Crimson Cardinals, a semiprofessional team in Lynchburg, and Marty Bishop, who has experience coaching high school football.

The team would like to play their games at Patrick Henry High School’s new stadium but have yet to work out an arrangement, Stone said.

Another issue still in the works: funding. The team has raised $4,200 but is looking for more sponsors to help pay for travel expenses, equipment and other costs. And, they estimate that they’ll need at least $3,000 for their two home games because the league requires the home team to provide lodging and a meal for the visiting team.

Proceeds from admission, merchandise and raffles will go to a charity of the team’s choosing. Players also plan to donate their time at summer football camps organized by Roanoke’s parks and recreation department.

The Rampage’s 2010 schedule includes a home game against the DC Generals from Washington and away games against the Orlando Guardians in Florida and Charlotte Cobras in North Carolina.

Their first game is at home April 3 against South Carolina’s Commanders.

That leaves players such as 53-year-old Phillip Johnson just four months to get ready.

“I decided to give it a try,” said Johnson, who plays defensive end and wide receiver. “I told them I’d take it day to day until I couldn’t take it anymore.

“I’m definitely going to make sure my insurance is paid up.”

Dillon, who plays on the offensive and defensive lines, said he is looking forward to getting in shape.

“I don’t expect to be starting every game,” he said. “I’m trying to get myself in better shape, that’s why I’m doing this.”

Others joined because they said they wanted to relive the glory days of playing high school football and liked that it benefits charity.

“When else are you going to get to play football?” said Sedrick Hayes, a Blacksburg police officer.

And many players said they enjoy the camaraderie, and meeting others in the public safety field.

“A lot of these guys I only see at work, and I don’t know anything about them,” said Roanoke police officer Josh Lynch.

But concerns about injuries discouraged some players from joining.

Roanoke Fire Chief David Hoback said he shares those worries but understands that he can’t control what his staff does while they are off-duty.

“The reason they’re doing it is admirable, but I do have concerns,” Hoback said.

“This is voluntarily putting themselves in harm’s way.”

For that reason, the league prohibits tackling or blocking below the waist.

And, because every player works in public safety, they each understand that it is important that no one gets hurt, Stone said.

“We both have to get up and go to work tomorrow,” he said.

Some Rampage players dismissed the potential of getting injured.

“If you get hurt, you get hurt,” said Lt. Jason Crouch of the Roanoke Fire-EMS Department. “You could get hurt walking out your front door.”

Stone told the team that their goal is to stay healthy.”Our success on this team this year is we don’t want to get anybody injured”, “When you walk on the field, you got to know what’s on the line”