It started as an idea between friends.

Qua Huzzie and his friend and former teammate Brian Dowell were talking a few weeks ago after a workout, reminiscing about their glory days as football players at LaGrange High.

The two talked about just what they would do if they could go back and play just one more game together.

After some good-natured joking of who would be the MVP of that game, the two friends came up with an idea, and a seven-on-seven flag football tournament was born.

“We always had that argument that if we had that one last opportunity to play what we would do with it,” Huzzie said. “We know that there were a lot of guys like us who were at home this summer, so we wanted to give them a chance to come and get a little competition going.”

The tournament will take place today at 5 p.m. at the practice field at Granger Park. Registration will take place starting at 3 p.m. with a $10 per player fee for entrance into the tournament. All teams must have matching jerseys in order to play.

The tournament is already gaining a lot of players, with teams from Columbus and Alabama having signed up to play.

“We have a lot of guys coming out,” Huzzie said. “We have about 10 teams coming out now. We have some guys who played at Shaw and Carver coming and a few teams from Alabama coming as well. It should be a fun time.”

Huzzie and Dowell were both seniors on the 2008 team that made it to the Class AAA semifinals, although Dowell wasn’t able to play because of a knee injury.

As a junior, Dowell made his mark when he came up with an interception in the end zone to seal the Grangers’ 24-20 victory over the rival Troup Tigers.

Huzzie, meanwhile, left LaGrange as the program’s all-time leading tackler.

A number of other former prep standouts from the area will also play in today’s game.

After today’s tournament, Huzzie said he’s working on setting up a youth tournament later this summer.

“We are going to continue to do this,” Huzzie said. “We are looking to do one for 13-year-olds and younger a little later this summer. We are going to get some teams together that we will coach and just come out and have a lot of fun because that is what its all about.”