4th Annual PDQ Turkey Bowl Ends with Wesley Chapel Victory

A PDQ tradition continued this Thanksgiving as team members from two of the first three Tampa Bay area restaurants gathered for their annual day of rest, food and football. The fourth annual PDQ Turkey Bowl took place at Berkeley Preparatory School on Thanksgiving morning as the two squads battled in an exciting game of flag football.

The PDQ Wesley Chapel team prevailed for the third straight year with a 60-20 victory, led by Cody Smith, who scored four touchdowns in the game. PDQ Co-Founder Bob Basham served his annual duties as head referee for the contest, and then presented the Turkey Bowl trophy following the game.

"Turkey Bowl 2016 was another exciting game and is a special part of the holidays every year for our team members," said PDQ Founder Bob Basham. "The teams battled all morning but in the end Wesley Chapel just made a few more big plays in the game."

Carrollwood took an early 7-0 lead on the opening drive of the game as Felix Sanchez scored on a one-yard pass. Late in the first quarter, Wesley Chapel evened the score at 7-7 when Smith found the end zone on a 48-yard touchdown reception.

Following a Carrollwood punt to start the second quarter, Smith gave Wesley Chapel its first lead of the game with a 25-yard touchdown catch for a 14-7 lead. John Colon extended the advantage with a two-yard touchdown reception and Smith ended the first half with a five-yard score to give Wesley Chapel a 27-7 halftime lead.

Longtime PDQ Carrollwood team member Sam Piazza gave an emotional halftime speech that seemed to fire up his teammates. The Carrollwood squad cut the lead to 27-14 early in the third quarter on a 40-yard touchdown reception by Tyrone Alexander. But the defense could not stop Wesley Chapel for most of the day as Angel Oquendo and Alexa Fernandez scored on back-to-back possessions, sandwiched by an interception, to give Wesley Chapel a 41-14 advantage at the end of the third quarter.

Smith then put the game away on the first drive of the final period, returning an interception 50 yards for a Wesley Chapel score on his fourth trip to the end zone.

Carrollwood's Tyrone Alexander got his team back on the scoreboard with a sensational 65-yard touchdown run on the ensuing possession. But Wesley Chapel added two more scores to finish out the contest, including a second interception return for a touchdown on the final play of the game, which started with a pick by Oscar Colon and ended 70 yards later with Jerel Garcia in the end zone.

"I am so proud of our team for the way they performed," said Wesley Chapel coach Marcus Bailey. "It was a great victory and everyone contributed to us bringing home the victory this year."