By DREW GRANTHUM/Sports Editor

COLUMBIANA — Things are winding down for the Columbiana United Methodist Church’s summer TRIBES recreational league.

With just one week of competition left before closing ceremonies, CUMC Director of Youth Ministries Drake Roberts said that the field, while not as close as some teams would like, is still wide open.

“Death From Above, they’re just owning it,” he said. “Kaptain Krunch and the Cereal Killers have closed the gap a little on second.”
On July 16, the teams had a parent-mentor night in which adults were invited to participate in the games with the players. Games included dodgeball, risk and ultimate bucket ball.

“It was pretty exciting,” Roberts said. “The adults got really into it. One of the kids brought a sister who played college softball.”
With the opening notes of the swan song for the season beginning to play, Roberst said all stops were being pulled out.

“(We’re) trying to do something in the second half to make it a little crazier,” he said. “We’re making it to where there’s more points (available). That can swing things, and (bringing) new people are double points.”

Roberts said the teams were encourage to participate in free agency; that is, any student on a roster that had not made an appearance all season long were able to be picked up by any team that could successfully recruit them to attend.

Still, nothing has seemed to slow Team Death From Above down yet, Roberts said. The squad has 74 total points heading into the final night.

“Honestly, they’ve just performed really solidly,” he said. “They’ve had consistent numbers each week. All the teams are in it, but they just have that ‘it’ factor. No one’s been able to put them away.”

Despite the deficit, neither Team Krunch nor Team Vicious and Delicious have waved the white flag, Roberts said. For Team Vicious and Delicious, the final night could proved to be victorious, or disastrous, depending on how they perform. Sitting in second, Team Vicious is 25 points out of first, but just 17 points ahead of third place.

Roberts said it was still anyone’s title to win.

“It looks like Death From Above has their eyes on the prize,” he said. “It’s gonna take a big swing. It’s possible. I wouldn’t count anyone out.”