Intramurals are made for students and faculty to have a chance to go out and play some competitive, but never too competititve, sports with friends, and the main goal is just to have a good time. However, for one co-ed intramural flag football team, the game is about much more than that.
The goal to have fun remains the same, but losing doesn’t seem to be in this Bad Business’s vocabulary, as it has only lost a single game between the intramural season and regional tournament.
“It makes it a lot more fun when you win,” Michael Remley, a senior in business administration, said. “It is fun anyway to go out and play, but its that much more fun when you win.”
But it isn’t the natural athletic ability that makes this team good, even though that does play a part in it. It is instead the team’s work ethic, desire to win and playbook that have made it stand out and enjoy so much success. The playbook itself consists of about 30 plays and was created by the PE instructor Randy Bechtolt.
“One of the teachers that I had for flag football drew up a ton of these plays, hooking route plays, curl plays, and it just helps,” Remley said. “I am just able to show them what is going on and it is really quick rather than telling everyone beforehand.”
Unlike the men’s or women’s flag football, co-ed is built upon team unity. A single boy or girl cannot singlehandedly win you a game because everyone has to get involved and a girl must touch the ball either by catching it or throwing it one out of every three plays. Amber Winterton, a junior in spanish education and one of the team’s quarterbacks, believes that her team’s versatility sets it apart.
“In all the coed sports it comes down to the girls and how good they are. Having a girl that can throw really switches up the opposing defenses,” Winterton said. “On our offense we go to girls almost every other play. We don’t wait until we have to let a girl touch it. So that makes a huge difference having girls who can play quarterback and catch.”
After waltzing through the co-ed league at State, outscoring its opponents 31.9 to 3 per game, Bad Business took its show to the regional tournament, hoping to win that tournament and advance to the national tournament held in New Orleans, La. But scheduling conflicts with some of its players and an influx of new ones cost the team its first game in the regional tournament.
“The first game we had we were down a couple girls and it was one of our new player’s first game of flag football ever,” Winterton said. “So it was pretty rough and we ended up losing.”
But after the team shook off the first game jitters it was able to battle back all the way in the tournament, finally making it to the championship game where it faced the team that beat it in the first round.
“The team we lost to was the team we beat in the championship game. So it was kind of redemption getting back at them and beating them in the title game,” Remley said. “I think they also took us for granted. They hammered us pretty well Friday night and I think they were expecting us to come out and play like that, but we didn’t – and we got the best of them.”
Both Winterton and fellow quarterback Remley were named the MVPs of the regional tournament while other team members Shelby Bullock and Seth Hanner were named to the All-Tournament team.
With the victory at regionals, the team advanced to participate in the national tournament, which will be held Dec. 29-31 in New Orleans, La. As a prize for winning the regional tournament, the team had its $400 entry fee payed for as well as being given $500 dollars for travel expenses.
But with the team making its first trip to Nationals, Remley says he does not really know what will happen once the team arrives in New Orleans.
“I don’t really no what to expect because I haven’t been down there but it is going to be a bit nerve racking,” Remley said. “But I think we will pull some things out and definitely win a few games and hopefully come out on top.”
