In a league of their own

Patterson, 78, “won’’ these teams - the lead went back and forth for much of the afternoon until the Pats finally pulled away 27-17 - during a competitive preseason draft at her nursing home’s first fantasy football league.

The Beaumont Rehabilitation and Skilled Nursing Center started fantasy football - a game that has mostly been the all-male domain of twentysomething office pools and barroom bettors - early this fall, in hopes it would liven up ho-hum Sunday afternoons for its elderly residents.

Now, halfway through the season, the league is more successful than Beaumont’s recreation assistant Lindsay Benedetto ever thought possible.

In just two months, attendance at televised Sunday afternoon games in the third-floor common room has doubled, and about a dozen seniors between the ages of 77 and 93 earn points weekly depending on the performance of their NFL teams.

To date, Ed Wallace is in second place in the league and by far the most vociferous cheerleader, interrupting conversations to yell “Go! go! go!’’ at the screen, as Patriots quarterback Tom Brady broke Drew Bledsoe’s career franchise record for 300-yard passing games with 27.

He wanted the Patriots for his virtual team, but after losing them in the first-round pick he took the Chicago Bears, the Denver Broncos, and the Minnesota Vikings. “They’re good teams,’’ said Wallace, 83, a retired federal bridge inspector who was raised in Northbridge and spent winters skating along local rivers and ponds near Beaumont, his home for the past year.

Wallace likes to tease Patterson, a former Natick resident, about her management of the Pats and promises to buy a red Cadillac with his league “winnings.’’

Barbara King, 87, of Quincy said she joined the house league because football was her favorite professional sport. “Baseball is too slow,’’ she said.

She monitors her teams - the Cincinnati Bengals, the Houston Texans, and the Cleveland Browns - with a teddy bear named “Champ’’ on her lap.

Residents watch the game for several hours at a time, munch on chips and dip, and chat about their teams during the week.

The facility, which recently hosted a Halloween “Fear Factor’’ party for families, prides itself on creative programming for frail elders, especially during the winter when it’s harder to get wheelchairs and walkers out for field trip destinations like Lowell’s Restaurant and Southwick’s Zoo, both in Mendon.

Keeping spirits high and residents engaged has become more important since Beaumont reluctantly put its most beloved activity - frequent visits between seniors and preschool children at the facility’s on-site daycare center - on hiatus because of the seasonal and H1N1 flu viruses.

“They were just devastated when we told them the kids couldn’t come up here,’’ said Heather Hough, recreation director of the Beaumont facility. “We all felt awful about it.’’

So, staff members had to get creative again. Now, two times per week or so, the seniors and the children use video cameras and Skype to check in with each other, sing songs, and make jokes until the public health crisis is over.

“They give us a good time.’’ said Wallace.

He isn’t sure he wants Beaumont to do a baseball fantasy league in the spring.

“I’m a Yankees fan,’’ he said.

Erica Noonan can be reached at enoonan@globe.com