More Than Stripes

More Than Stripes: The Story of Phil Nguyen

By Justin Tyler (Oneonta, NY) - -

On a snowy day in October 2013, the stage was set for the SUNY Oneonta flag football championship. The game was to be played between Vick in a Box and No Punt Intended but what transpired in the last of those 40 minutes proved to be much more important than the game itself.

“If I was fixing football games, the investigation would have shown that”, said Phil Nguyen when asked about the history of the allegations against him.

Nguyen (left) (Thomas Lee 2016)

The allegations stem from the final drive of the championship game when Nguyen made a controversial offensive pass interference call that resulted in a turnover, and subsequently ended the season, for No Punt Intended. Sean O’Brien, sophomore quarterback for No Punt Intended is still haunted by the thought that he was unfairly deprived of his championship t-shirt, “To have our undefeated season come to an end like that? Unreal”.

Jason Zongrone, the defender on the infamous final play agreed with the call. “I saw the ball coming toward me and I knew I had a chance to pick it off. But before I could catch it, the receiver just mowed me over”.

“I stand by my call", Phil Nguyen. Nguyen was placed on paid leave during the investigation, during which rumors of rigging games went back as far as week 2 of the season, when Nguyen ejected all-star tight end Christian Simonsen of The Practice Squad for excessive celebration. The Practice Squad without Simonsen went on to lose that game to The Cleveland Steamers who ended the season as the worst team in the league.