Sequim Gazette staff

Gone are the Eagles, here come the Grizzlies.

Semipro football is back on the Olympic Peninsula thanks to Richard Fleck, a Sequim resident and a member of the Pacific Northwest Football and Minor League Football Halls of Fame.

A retired Boeing worker, Fleck is concentrating his sports efforts on the running of the new Olympic Peninsula Grizzlies, members of the new Washington 8 Man Football Alliance, which kicks off its inaugural season in March with five teams.

Fleck is hosting a open tryout for former high school, college and semi-pro players in the area who want to suit up and play again. The tryout is set for 11:30 a.m. Saturday, Sept. 13, at Carrie Black Park in Sequim. He also is looking for assistant coaches.

Additional tryouts will be held in October and November, with weekly practice to begin in mid-January 2015.

The league website’s are coming soon to http://www.leaguelineup.com/welcome.asp?url=northwest8manleague.

Game play in the league’s eight-man football uses nearly identical formats at state high school rules. Proponents of eight-man football say it’s faster, safer and less expensive for players (the team provides the game uniforms).

The Olympic Peninsula — and, for several years, Sequim — was home to the Olympic Peninsula Eagles, a semi-pro, 11-man football team that played home games in Sequim, Port Angeles and Port Townsend for seven seasons through 2012.

Fleck, who works as a high school football, baseball and volleyball game official, said that, as of last week, the team does not have a set location for home game.

For more information, call Fleck at 808-0172.