It was an electrifying victory for the West as they defeated the East in a battle of the U.S. Army Operational Test Command local directorates on West Fort Hood Friday afternoon.

Maj. Rudy Grimes’ winning catch for the penetration rule rolled the West over the top for a 39-38 victory over the East in the eighth annual flag football face-off.

“It’s bigger than the Cowboys beating the Packers last week,” said West team athlete and general counsel Pat Lisowski. “However, due to a dispute this game was not available for cable broadcast and could only be watched at select venues. We are working to resolve that for next year.”

With a little help from geography, the teams were fixed: Soldiers and civilians of OTC employed at the Headquarters and Future Force test directorate buildings made up team West. The East team consisted of players from all other local OTC directorates. The idea was to divide the command according to ability levels to create a more competitive game than games of previous years.

A misty rain was no match for morale at this pre-Turkey Bowl event, where fans remained on their feet during the game.

The moment of truth for the West was when Grimes intercepted the ball near his goal line and returned it.

“At that point, we really thought we could hang with them,” Lisowski said.

And they did.

Most valuable mentions for the game were West team quarterback Fernando Sanchez; Command Sgt. Maj. Larry Wilson, who put extreme pressure on all-star East team quarterback Sgt. 1st Class Maurice “Mo” Strawder resulting in several notable collisions; Sgt. 1st Class Jamie Walls who was instrumental on offense and defense; and Grimes who made the winning catch for the penetration rule.