The NC State club flag football team turned in an impressive performance in the inaugural Battle of the Atlantic tournament hosted at NC State.
The tournament, which was attended by seven teams from all over North Carolina and one team from New Jersey, was hosted on Miller Fields and Method Fields. Saturday’s games were pool play games to determine seeding and Sunday was a double-elimination bracket play.
“The tournament went pretty well,” said junior president Daniel Lee. “We’re looking forward to hosting the tournament next year but the first year went really well.”
NC State’s two teams, Team Wolf and Team Pack, both advanced to the semifinals of the two-day, eight-team tournament after Team Wolf went 3-0 in pool play and Team Pack went 1-2.
On Saturday, Team Wolf ran roughshod over its two opponents, shutting out Carolina United 26-0 and racing by Western Carolina 35-12. Sandwiched in between its two wins was a forfeit win over Methodist University, which didn’t show up.
Team Pack had a tougher day on Saturday, getting shut out by North Carolina A&T 34-0 in its first game of the day. Team Pack then dropped a nail-biter to UNC-Greensboro’s “Team 187” 21-19 before tripling up Princeton 18-6 in its last game of the day.
Team Pack took care of Carolina United in the quarterfinals on Sunday, beating the local team 21-6. The team got a rematch with A&T in the semifinals and the result was similar to the first as Team Pack couldn’t keep up with A&T and bowed out of the tournament by a 52-6 score.
Team Wolf got off to a hot start in the quarterfinals on Sunday. Junior quarterback Isaac Bell hit sophomore receiver Gunnar Carrigan for a long touchdown on the first play of the game and Team Wolf never looked back, destroying Princeton 43-6.
Just a couple hours later Team Wolf took on Team 187 in the semifinals, and Team Wolf handily disposed of UNCG’s team, winning 42-20.
A matchup with NC A&T, the pre-tournament favorite, awaited Team Wolf in the championship, and despite a hard-fought game, Team Wolf fell 26-7, finishing a runner-up second place in the Battle of the Atlantic.
“It was a pretty close game past halftime,” Lee said. “But A&T ended up pulling away in the fourth quarter.”
The Battle of the Atlantic was the first flag football tournament the NC State club flag football team has held and Lee is proud of the way it turned out. The plan is for the tournament to continue every year and expand down the road.
“Overall it was a pretty successful tournament,” Lee said. “We had to switch locations to Miller Fields on Sunday but other than that everything turned out well. We’re looking forward to making some administrative adjustments for next year to be able to host it again and hopefully be one of the biggest flag football tournaments around the east coast.”
