Scott Radley: When the Ticats’ QB is suddenly playing for your flag football team

She was expecting the usual when she showed up for her flag football game this week. Five years she's done this, five years things have been pretty predictable.

Then she saw the guy in the Tiger-Cats' jersey who was lined up under centre. And the other guy in the Ticats' jersey coaching the defence.

I knew exactly who they were," Isabella Kirkopoulos says.

Playing quarterback for both teams in the Soccer World Flag Football League game was Hamilton pivot Dane Evans. Working the other side of the ball was lineman Kay Okafor.

The 13-year-old had no idea they'd be there but, oh man, this was cool.

She wasn't alone in that assessment. Seems everybody on the field that day was a little blown away by the chance to try to catch a pass from a guy who just four months ago was playing in the Grey Cup at Tim Hortons Field.

The nerves were certainly churning when the first ball came Dean Vaughan's way. It hit him in the hands but bounced off. Blame the excitement for sure, but also some big-league octane.

He throws the ball really fast and really hard," the Grade 8 student at Chedoke Elementary says.

No worries, the second one stuck.

Kirkopoulos snagged a couple, too. One of them on what she excitedly describes as 10-yard out route followed by another 15-or-so yards after the catch.

I had to do some spin movements in there," she says.

The highlight-reel moment came when Nate Frketich ran a deep post route and found himself behind the last defender. Then looked up and saw a perfect spiral descending on him.

His thoughts? He had time for just one.

I better catch this," the 14-year-old says.

He did. Hauled it in like he'd been doing it forever and then scampered in for a touchdown. Best of all, his mom caught it on video so he'll have proof forever.

That was a cool moment," he says. I'm good enough to catch a long ball from a professional quarterback. That made me feel really good."

Later, he snared two interceptions, including a pick six. Two of the four INTs the kids say Evans threw.

He almost cost us the game," Vaughan says.

He might be kidding. Hard to tell.

Either way, the excitement in the voices of every single person who talked about it after it was done was real. Nothing phoney here. Nothing exaggerated. This was a moment. Credit the pros for this.

Evans says the original plan for the evening was simply to come hang out. Maybe talk to the kids and sign some autographs.

We could do more," he offered.

Um, OK, you want to play?

Evans says when he was a young player, he would've loved to have thrown around the ball with a pro. He never had that chance. So, yeah. Absolutely.

I hope they had a good time," he says. I had a great time."

So what's this story about? Is it simply a tale of some kids playing a game with some local heroes? Sure. But there's something else here. It's a reminder of the power a pro athlete has to make a positive impact if he or she chooses to use that gift.

Evans grew up as the star QB in a small town in Texas. He then went to a university where football matters. He gets it.

When you're in the position that I'm in, there's always kids watching and they want to see what you do because they really look up to you," he says. I just try to live up to that every day."

Okafor didn't have that early start or that Texas football madness. He grew up in Nigeria and then Prince Edward Island and found the game later in life. As a result he still finds it hard to grasp the idea that he's a big deal to people. He's just a guy.

But he understands.

Seeing how much it means to kids and what we represent, that's very special," he says. I know what it means to the kids."

When the game was done, the kids waited to pose for photos and get their T-shirts autographed. Kirkopoulos went a slightly different direction. She got her forehead signed.

Yup. Okafor's John Hancock found a home smack dab right up front in black marker. That was a first for him, he laughs.

Honestly, it was hilarious. But it had to be a giant pain to remove once she got home.

I actually slept with it," she says. And I went to school with it today."

Scott Radley is a Hamilton-based columnist at The Spectator. Reach him via email: sradley@thespec.com