Air Force, the last NFL-sanctioned dynasty Published Feb. 12, 2008 By By Mark Munsey 15th Airlift Wing Public Affairs KAPIOLANI PARK, Hawaii -- At Friday's NFL Military Challenge, Team Hickam players made up the Air Force squad that again battled all-stars teams from the island's Army, Coast Guard, Marine and Navy contingents. And for the third year in a row, blue was the last color standing. "We've got the 40 next. Get warm." Nate Allen, AF NFLMC team captain and former Academy starting cornerback has the understandable cadence of a man not to be trifled with. It was the timing of his lock-it-down undertoned message that took non-military onlookers by surprise. After the first kicker. During the first event of the day. OK, it wasn't technically after the first kicker, more like his last attempt had just started its descent, but team mate Richard Good was doing the kicking, so Allen's faith in gravity was well founded. Last year, former Florida state soccer champion Good was the final place kicker, doing a rock-solid Larry Bird impression: everyone else was playing for second place. So it seemed odd that he led off this year's competition, like someone jumbled the lineup card and Sinatra was opening for the crappy magician, only without the sound check equivalent of a practice kick. The first note missed wide left, the next nine conversions played out like a fondly-remembered summertime jam. With opponent's 'miss' magic number at two, The Navy kicker eliminated himself in minimum time and the Army kicker did him only one better, done by the third attempt. The Coastie made it to seven missing his second try, and the Marine kept the suspense until his final swing before settling for second. The afore-mentioned team 40-yard dash was anchored by Marcus Fox, former college sprinting lead leg on four consecutive championship 4x100 relay teams at Claflin College, and team newcomer Winston Jackson - who would later demonstrate the difference between 'sprint' fast and 'receiver getting after a football downfield' fast. Bolting to their best time ever - 29.3 seconds, another NFLMC record seemed imminent but actually lasted for about two minutes. The Army immediately re-set the competition gold standard by shaving a full .02 off, taking mad dash honors at 29.28 seconds. With punting next, team boot Nate Angel seemed to have precious few surrounding him. Off-center yards are subtracted from the total. Already injured, the chamber of commerce central-casting mercurial trade winds were taking practice blasts anywhere but the winners circle. Fortunately, Angel is something of a kicking legacy himself: Click, click, boom. First two punts decent, the last jaw dropping. And it happened again. A pair of not overly long but only a little wide kicks totaled 44 yards. When Angel crushed his third punt - the oddly-comforting sound of athletic leathers smacking - it pushed Army Staff. Sgt. Shawn Grace past the point of pleasantries. "Thanks for the hope," he throated from the gallery, which sounds nice on paper but when factoring in tonal was clearly less so. Angel's combined 91-yard total was exceeded only by a 102-yard punt down from the Coast Guard. The long-snapping competition serves only two purposes: a reminder it's silly for grown men to hike a ball at between their legs at a target and it also allows one of the other teams to get a ton of cheap points. Done and done. Once again, the race was tight and it was coming down to air time. In the passing competition, points are awarded incrementally based on distance of reception. The common consensus is two-points at twenty yards a toss leaves only the receivers to blame. When Calvin Kirton felt the surging warmth of arm rotation muscle memory, the jail-break phrase came easy and strong: 'let's go three.' The rules mandate in order to keep the playing field level, the receiver flips the football to the QB before taking off. Receiver Jackson's was more over the shoulder toss, already in full stride by second step. Kirton did a one-step drop, dug his right front foot into the ground and started fast-twitching the calf. Dropping his shoulder at least 15 degrees deeper than any previous attempt, he uncoiled and let another laser-tight pass rotate into the clear blue skies over Diamond Head. Close to 40 yards later, Jackson's full extension and nimble feet helped avoid pancaking the Navy photographer who now felt unsafe at any distance. A dozen passes never touched ground as the AF scored a perfect thirty and wrapped up their third NFLMC in a row and fourth in five years.