The NFL FLAG Football Championships just wrapped up this week and a star was born amid all the action. Peyton Dickerson, a rising sophomore from Franklin, Tennessee went viral as he led "The Lockdown Legends" flag football team to the finals via several dominant performances at quarterback.
A to Z Sports had the opportunity to sit down with Peyton for an interview to talk through his fast rise to flag football fame and it turns out he's just as great a young man off the field as he is on it.
From late addition to NFL FLAG Finals
For those unfamiliar with NFL FLAG Football, it is the largest youth flag football organization in the United States. Every year nearly 2000 teams compete across a number of different age groups for both boys and girls. In the 15u Boys division alone there was somewhere around 200 teams competing at all of the circuit events that led to the championship tournament in Canton, Ohio last week.
When I first spoke with Peyton Dickerson I assumed that he and his Lockdown Legends team had been playing with each other for a long while given their chemistry and impressive run to the NFL FLAG 15u Boys Championship. That apparently wasn't the case. In fact, prior to the NFL FLAG events this year the team had never all played together. Dickerson had just joined the team last minute, and quarterback apparently isn't even his main position for his high school team:
"I joined that team kind of last minute, and [quarterback] was just where they needed me. I played [quarterback] in middle school...and when I joined the team, that's just what they needed out of me so that's what I gave them. I did the best I could."
Dickerson mainly played slot wide receiver for his freshman team at Page High School in Franklin, TN last season. And that's apparently going to be his focus yet again this coming fall. Dickerson continued on how the team came together:
"We've never been on the same team...Like a month and a half ago there was a qualifying tournament at Centennial (a high school south of Nashville, TN) hosted by NFL FLAG. That's how you get [to the championships]...A week or two before the tournament they asked me to join and play with them and we ended up winning the qualifying tournament...Then we had like two or three practices. And then we went up to Ohio for the national tournament."
Dickerson and his incredibly talented teammates seriously had just a few practices together in the two weeks prior to their qualifying tournament in Nashville. They won the entire event there. Then they just held two or three more practices before making it all the way to the 15u Boys NFL FLAG Football championship game! But how did they get there?
From underdogs to viral sensations
The national tournament for NFL FLAG had 32 qualifying teams, each representing an NFL city. Dickerson and the Lockdown Legends entered pool play representing the Titans where they had to square off against "AFC South" teams for three games.
"So we played the Colts, the Texans, and Jaguars. We went 2-1 in pool play, and the top two teams made the winner's bracket...So the Titans (Dickerson's team) and the Jaguars made the winner's bracket."
After going 2-1 in games against their pool the final tournament began between the 16 best teams. I asked Dickerson if there was a moment when he realized that his team could do something special and he had this to say:
"That first [Round of 16] game we played is when I knew that this team--that we could do some damage...We came into the winner's bracket as a lower seed. So we were going in playing an undefeated, really good team. We played the Ravens that first round. After that game--we won in overtime, we had a big stop and then we won in overtime--that's when I was like, 'We just took out one of the best teams!' People actually though that team may win it all and we knocked them out first round. I was like, 'Oh, this could be something.'"
For those that missed the game(s), as Dickerson said, the matchup against the Ravens was a tough one that went all the way down to the wire. It ended when Dickerson found his receiver Gavin Macias on a beautiful throw in the back left corner of the end zone as the Lockdown Legends won 28-27 (as you can see in the post below).
After the Ravens game, The Legends and Dickerson just kept the momentum rolling. Although Dickerson started the quarterfinal matchup against the Patriots by throwing a couple early interceptions he credited his teammates for getting wide open throughout the second half as his connection with Gavin Macias came up huge again.
The first clip that really went viral for Dickerson was a "little slot fade" to Macias, as he put it, but then national interest in the tournament seemed to start peaking on this beautiful deep touchdown to him later in the game (in post from the NFL below).
Dickerson was never one to take the credit throughout our interview, consistently pumping up his teammates, but seemed to be especially impressed by Macias. Macis snagged the game winner against the Ravens and multiple scores against the Patriots. But then Dickerson and the Legends got even more impressive from there.
When it came to the semifinals Dickerson just could not be stopped. He tossed five touchdowns, including this beauty where he threw across his body to his receiver RC Davis for a touchdown against the Steelers.
"We came out there in the morning for the first game, and I was kind of nervous. Like we'd been staying up until 2am playing the games, but now we got a 10am game. We came out, and we came out punching. First drive, we scored. Then we [forced] a quick three and out and we scored quick again. We got up 14 quick on them. And that was actually my buddy's birthday--RC Davis. He had two touchdowns in the first half!"
The Legends ended up winning the semifinal game 32-20, moving on to the championship game to face Metro Select, the New Orleans Saints' representative team. And even though Dickerson and his team ended up falling short in the championship game to an incredibly talented squad, Dickerson's fast rise to flag football fame with his incredible teammates was what stood out perhaps more so than anything else in the entire tournament.
Related: Younger cousin of Tennessee Vols WR goes viral for insane moves during NFL flag football game
What's next for Dickerson?
It's hard to come off such an incredible national tournament like Dickerson just had and stay humble, but apparently not for him. When I asked about his favorite moments, rather than focus on his individual greatness, he was all about just remembering how much fun it to play with his buddies:
"That's something I'll bring out of this tournament. I'm going to--in 10 years--I'm not going to think about the games. I'm going to think about how much fun it was. It was a whole lot of fun playing with my buddies up there."
Regardless of what I asked him about--dealing with pressure in games, handling adversity, improving as a player--Dickerson was always quick to praise those around him and consistently held a good perspective towards flag football saying, "I was going out there just to win, and if we don't win, it's flag football."
Dickerson couldn't thank his parents and coaches enough for helping him become the player and person he is today, giving him the opportunity to learn and play football. But Peyton was especially grateful for his parents:
"I've always had supportive parents. If I have a bad game, they're not yelling at me in the car. They're talking about how to fix the mistakes. And in those situations where stuff's not going good, how to just put it behind you and move forward."
That kind of support and direction is so key in developing any young athlete in today's hyper-competitive atmosphere that can sometimes absolutely consume youth sports.
To wrap things up I asked Dickerson about advice he would give any other young football players hoping to get their name out there and improve their craft:
"The skill, you have to work for, that's obvious. But the mental side--you've got to stay calm and composed, and you've got to have fun and stay happy with it...This last tournament was one of the first tournaments where I just went in looking to have fun. And it was the best tournament I've ever had in 7-on-7, flag, or tackle...Having fun, that even showed me that sometimes you need to calm down and just have fun with your friends...That really helped me a lot. Just have fun and stay calm."
Peyton says that as much fun as that tournament was he'll now turn his attention towards working hard this fall with Page High School football. He'll also continue playing 7-on-7 in the spring. And of course he hopes to one day play college football, but understands how difficult it can be to make it that far. One thing is for certain though. If Dickerson keeps playing like he did in the NFL FLAG Championship tournament, and he keeps growing into the already-impressive young man that he is, there should plenty of great opportunities in his future.
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