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| (Photo credit: John Kuntz, The Plain Dealer) |
The 36-year-old Cleveland cop is in her 12th year for Cleveland's women's tackle football team, and she already has decided it is her final season. Some of her teammates are young enough to be her daughter, she jokes. She can no longer sprint and elude tacklers like she did in her youth. She has been grooming a promising young replacement, 19-year-old Chawnte Johnson, all season.
In her final season, as the only Fusion player who has been a part of the team since its inception, Latessa is enjoying the culmination of all her dreams in tackle football. She is playing for a championship.
For the first time, the Cleveland Fusion is undefeated heading into the Women's Football Alliance playoffs Saturday against the West Michigan Mayhem. Her 8-0 team has demolished opponents by an average score of 44.9 to 2.6. They have surrendered only 18 points.
Latessa has been just as effective as ever, rushing for 529 yards and six touchdowns. But she has seen the window edging closer and closer to shut, and the sturdy running back with a reputation for cracking up her teammates while she's instructing them knows it's time to stop.
"My head is here with the game, but to get my body to physically do that and compete ..." Latessa said, trailing off as she shook her head. "And they're getting younger and younger. I'm like double some of these girls' ages. It's time to go."
First, though, is the matter of a WFA championship. This is the best team Latessa has been a part of, she said, and this is the best chance to win a title in the league.
The defense that has not allowed more than six points in a game this season is anchored by three WFA All-Americans: free safety Angela Mason, defensive tackle Caprita Bell and defensive end Leann McKee. But the soul of the Fusion is Latessa, the playful leader.
She's the one who, like a protective mother, gathers the dirty clothes her teammates leave at practice -- and returns them all unwashed and stuffed in one rancid bag to teach them a lesson.
She's the one who teasingly refers to second-year coach Erik Keister -- a newly graduated law student -- as "Generic Erik."
And she's the one who regales her teammates about all the times she has gone out on a call during her day job as a Cleveland policewoman and been asked about the black eye or bruises covering her body from her football hobby.
On a team that also features lawyers, engineers and paramedics, Latessa is the one who seems to have a job that most allows her to transfer skills with ease.
"I think being a policeman toughens me up for this," Latessa said. "And this toughens me up for work. I laugh because I've been known to run suspects down in my heyday. I've hit people, and tackled people. My co-workers will be like, 'Oooh!' They get all excited about it."
On the football field, her teammates see how her experience as a cop transfers, too.
"No matter what happens on the field -- the game can get pretty hectic -- she always keeps calm, always has a level head," said Johnson, the backup running back. "I really pay attention to that and really focus on keeping that attitude because I know she's leaving. I feel like everything she does with the team, I have to carry on with since I'm taking on her position."
Johnson has been a quick study in her first season with the Fusion and her first season at running back. The former lineman who played for Cleveland's Lutheran East High School boys team had 629 yards rushing and eight touchdowns. Latessa has taught her how to read defenses and how to use her blocks.
"A lot of it is patience," Latessa said. "You have to let the play develop. When she came, she just wanted to get the ball and go. But she's passing up the block; there's a scheme."
Johnson, for her part, is hopeful that Latessa makes good on her offer to stick around the Fusion next season as a coach. She can't imagine her mentor not helping her.
"She will be a successful and a good player in this league," Latessa said. "She's only 19 years old.
"But she better leave my records alone."
WFA playoffs
- West Michigan (4-4) at Cleveland (8-0)
- When: Saturday, 7 p.m., at Case Western Reserve
- Tickets: $10 adults; $7 students and seniors; children 6 and under free
- By the numbers: Fusion is 8-0, outscoring opponents by an average of 45.2 to 2.2. ... Opponents have scored in only three games. ... Quarterback Beth Andrasik has completed 59 of 151 passes for 874 yards. ... Running backs Chawnte Johnson (682 yards, nine TDs) and Martina Latessa (544 yards, 8 TDs) lead the ground attack. ... Leann McKee leads the defense with 58.5 tackles, 32 for a loss. Veronica Rucker has 57 tackles.
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