Women On A Football Rampage

LINCOLN — It’s not exactly every girl’s dream, but for the women who want to play, the Women’s Spring Football League provides the avenue.

Jerry Rogers, league founder, thinks there are 200 women’s football teams across the nation.

“It really does surprise you,” Rogers said of the trend toward women participating in full-contact football.

Rogers said the Arkansas Lady Rampage have played teams from Dallas, Kansas City, Atlanta, Omaha and places like that. There are also teams in Memphis and Little Rock, which are in a different league and Rogers said they are pretty tough.

“Most of your major cities will have several teams, most people just don’t know about it,” Rogers said.

The Arkansas Lady Rampage franchise plays their home games at the Lincoln High School football field. The Rampage is in the National Conference, Heartland Division with DallasForth Worth Xtreme and Kansas Phoenix and had road games against both division opponents in June. The Huntsville Tigers, a franchise in the American Conference, Mid-States Division, is another area women’s football team in the league.

The Rampage will play their last regular season home game at 6 p.m. Saturday with the division championship and conference championship games set for Lincoln High School field July 21 and July 28. The site of the league championship has yet to be determined with a game slated for Aug. 11.

Kymn Tocci is the owner and team president. James Boatright is team manager. Jermaine Petty is the head coach, who also handles conditioning.

On April 21, the Rampage sustained a 48-0 setback to Dallas-Fort Worth, while the Huntsville Tigers lost 166 to the Memphis Dynasty. On May 5, the Rampage were beaten 32-0 by the Tigers. On June 2, in a rematch, the Tigers pulled away 41-0, but last week, the Rampage broke into the win column with an 8-0 victory over the Kansas Phoenix.

Normally the regular season ends in June, but a game originally scheduled for April 28 will pit the Rampage in a rematch with the Phoenix on Saturday.

“It’s been a very unusual second

season, but it’s ending on a fairly good note, and that’s always a plus,” Tocci said.

Of 16 players on their current roster, half are from the extended area including Bentonville, Fayetteville, Rogers and Springdale. One player, Alesha Carr, of Fayetteville, is trained in mixed martial arts, while LaDawn Cibik, a Charleston graduate, is a certified Surgical Technologist.

“We need more people on the roster. Some teams had 30 to 40 to 50 people on their roster,” Rogers said.

Rogers said the team prac- tices Sundays and Wednesdays at J.B. Hunt Park.

“There are some talented women,” Rogers said.

Football fans can watch two games at the Lincoln High School football field Saturday with the Northwest Arkansas Battle playing a home game after the women’s gridiron contest.

“The men’s team will also be playing right after us that day, so we’re hoping for a great fan turnout,” Tocci said.

The team website is www. ladyrampagefootball.com and the league website is www. wsflfootball.net.