BALTIMORE (Map, News) - When the women of the Baltimore Burn gathered at Broadneck High School Saturday night, no one announced the starting lineup or turned on the scoreboard clock. One player called home to have someone rush over with her black jersey. Another instructed her daughter to stop horsing around in the stands. The coach declined the referee's offer to start the game early. “Our quarterback's not here yet,” he said, 15 minutes before kickoff.

And when the players took the field, they were greeted with a serious drubbing by the bigger, stronger and far more skilled New York Nemesis.

But the Burn endured.

Women's tackle football is staying alive in Baltimore despite the odds. The Burn and the Baltimore Nighthawks are among 40 women's football teams in the country and proof that adult sports aren't all about championship rings and SportsCenter highlights.

“I have wanted to play football for as long as I can remember,” said Betty Jo Salmeron, 48, of Baltimore, a research psychiatrist by day and kicker/cornerback/tight end in her off hours. Like many of the players, Salmeron learned of the team from another player and was drawn by curiosity to a practice at Southside Academy High School. “I decided that it was a lot of fun, but that I was too old,” she said. “But I stayed anyway.”

Pushing training sleds at practice is better than any workout she could get at the gym, she said. “I feel better than I have in years.”

The National Women's Football Association gets its share of comic attention, but it's really a great model for women's sports. Women take grief for not sitting around on Sundays watching football or staying up for the current National Basketball Association playoffs. The truth is, there are a lot of sports women would rather play than watch.

When the WUSA soccer league folded some years back, investors bemoaned the lack of attendance and sponsorships. Around the same time, some college players were surveyed about the league. The women's collegiate players were overwhelmingly supportive of professional women's soccer. But no, they said, they didn't go to games much. They all aspired to play in the league.

That's the kind of response that doomed the WUSA and keeps the WNBA financially reliant on its male cousin.

And that's why it's fun to see these women don their shoulder pads and hit the field for the simple joy of the sport.

“Hey, focus up, focus up,” called seven-year Burn coach Adrian Mobley before Saturday's game. Mobley, also the boys' football coach at Southside Academy, doesn't sugarcoat the skill of his team. “They still have those big-time mistakes they have to overcome,” he said after the final whistle of a 41-8 loss to New York. “They have to be humble and practice and get better. And they should be humble after that score.”

Mobley said his high school players are easier to coach: “They don't have as many responsibilities as these women.” But he remains resilient. “I love teaching the game. Anybody who wants to learn the game I will coach.”

The team is built around a corps of women who played other sports — soccer, softball, lacrosse — and nurtured some inquisitiveness about football. A lot of them, he admitted, “don't last long” after the first tackles. But a few have been with the team for eight years. The Burn stays alive with sponsorships and donations. Players aren't paid.

Mobley’s pre-game instructions reflect his young squad, pushing fundamentals and hustle. “I want you to go after the quarterback, all day, all night until the next,” he said. “You have to attack the ball all day long — attack, attack, attack … run, run, run. I don't want anybody jogging.”

The Burn put up a noble effort, but New York reeled off four touchdowns long before the home team had converted four first downs.

Still, a NWFA record 99-yard touchdown run by rookie Tydesha Mayo brightened the evening just before halftime.

“Football is my sport,” Mayo said with a smile at halftime. Actually, Mayo, 20, a therapeutic aide in Baltimore, did play some Pop Warner football as a youngster but is new to this adult league. A high school softball player, she said she was drawn by a chance to play a challenging, competitive sport. She has three touchdowns in three games and finished Saturday night with 170 yards. Another player, Tamika Rogers, finished with a team-record 13 tackles.

The players packed up those little victories as they left the field and headed north to Baltimore. Mobley hoped for better attendance at practice this week. He holds three practices a week, but really, nobody comes to all of them. But if someone new shows up, he's got a spot for her. You never know, he said, she might end up a football player.

edawson@baltimoreexaminer.com