By TERRY NAU

Sports editor

 LINCOLN – There’s a new football team in town that everyone is talking about.
Coached by Mike Leech and Jeff Bernier, this Flag Football squad features six players from Lincoln High’s varsity football squad along with several Special Olympians from the Blackstone Valley, including Leech’s 21-year-old son Steven.
The squad has been practicing for six weeks, preparing for Sunday’s New England Regional Special Olympics Flag Football Tournament at Gillette Stadium.
“Special Olympics has never had a national flag football program,” Leech, an assistant coach at LHS, was saying on Monday. “Some states have initiated flag football programs and leagues in recent years. I got a call from Megan Hoffman in September. She’s involved with Special Olympics in Massachusetts and told me about the tournament, which brings in teams from all over New England. That’s when we decided to put a team together to represent Rhode Island.”
The Rhode Island team will wear uniforms similar in style to what Lincoln High’s squad uses during its varsity football season. Minus the shoulder pads, of course.
“The uniforms are arriving this week,” Leech said. “We can’t wait to see them.”
In Special Olympics Flag Football, five-player teams match up against one another. Two of the players are unified partners and the other three are Special Olympians. There are 12 players permitted on each team’s roster with everyone getting a chance to play.
“We have six unified partners from the Lincoln High varsity football team,” Leech said. “My son Scott is one of the six, along with Anthony Palombo, Kyle Jackson, Anthony Joyce, Billy Tower and Asjed Hussain. It has been a rewarding experience for all of the kids. The high school players have to learn a different kind of blocking, for instance, where we sort of screen off players from the other team. There’s no aggression in flag football.
“I think some of the high school players were a little surprised at first at the skills the Special Olympians possessed,” Leech continued. “My son Scott sort of knew all along because he grew up with Special Olympians. He knew what they were capable of doing.”
Sunday’s tournament hopefully will bring more attention to flag football from the national Special Olympics committee.
“The Kennedy family originally was the driving force behind Special Olympics,” Leech pointed out. “They all played (touch) football but flag football  -- for some reason -- never became a part of Special Olympics. There’s been a push the last couple of years to get the sport included.
“This is the first time a team from Rhode Island has been involved in a tournament,” Leech said. “By next year, we hope to have a league in Rhode Island with 10 or more teams involved.”