Women’s Flag Football Competition Brings Team Comradery and High Spirits

The Liberty Women’s Flag Football Competition, held on Oct. 22-23 at the Liberty Mountain Intramural Complex fields, included six teams of girls that fought for the championship spot and a chance to win champion-titled T-shirts. 

The six teams included Block It Like It’s Hot, End Zone Chasers, Friday Night Tights, Katie’s Team, The Election Steelers and No Punt Intended. Each team had around 10 to 15 girls participating, but only seven members were allowed to play on the field at a time.

Steven Chamberlain, the associate director of intermural sports, explained the key differences between flag and tackle football. 

“Flag football is very similar to tackle football,” Chamberlain said. “The only differences being they’re not tackling each other, they’re not wearing pads and [they] just pull a flag off a belt that each team member is wearing and it equals a tackle.” 

The girls that played had the opportunity to ask the referees about other ground rules during the games as well, which helped each team play fairly without having any rule advantages over another.

Each team played four games that consisted of two 20-minute periods per game. Since the amount of playing on the field necessitates a lot of physical endurance, the competition took two days to complete. 

As the girls played hard, fans and friends surrounded the fields to cheer for and support their teams. End Zone Chasers and Block It Like It’s Hot took the first victories of the night. Player Grace Phillips from Block It Like It’s Hot was thrilled about her team’s win.

“Playing with my hall [helped us] bond so much, and I love that. It’s been so fun, and our brother dorm is amazing for coming out to cheer for us,” Phillips said. “We’re a lot of bold personalities, so organizing was hard but fun to watch, and we’re just having a blast.” 

All the teams played with consistent energy and endurance, but in the end, the championship title went to End Zone Chasers who had four wins and no losses. Block It Like It’s Hot and No Punt Intended were close seconds with three wins and one loss. 

End Zone Chasers player Anna Graustein said she loved the fun and competition.

“Everybody gets so into it because it’s something we don’t get to play in day-to-day life, and girls don’t normally play football,” Graustein said. “So, we all come in with different strengths and it becomes an equalizer, and we just end up having so much fun.” 

Liberty’s Campus Recreation team offers a variety of tournaments for multiple sports that students can sign up for at https://www.liberty.edu/campusrec/intramural-sports/ to participate in with their friends and teammates.

Wallace is a news reporter. Follow her on Twitter.