Students get payback against faculty in flag football game

Tensions were high at the faculty vs. students flag football game held on Oct. 8 at Rectacular Spectacular for VCU Homecoming at Cary Street Fields. Students and faculty gathered around the field to see the faculty team duke it out against the Intramural All-Star team for the title of best football team here at VCU.

“It gives those less physically active a chance to compete against fellow students and get bragging rights to some degree if they win,” said Bob Fankhauser, assistant director for the Intramural Sports Department.

VCU offers a wide variety of intramural sports such as soccer, basketball, water polo and volleyball, etc. Students can choose to play any sport, but football brings the largest crowd. Students against other students each week until playoffs.

Within the three flag football leagues, 10QComeAgain (Thank You Come Again) came out victorious in the B league. Fankhauser gave the winners of each division’s championship games the chance to play against faculty. Delta Chi and Pi Kappa Alpha also brought members to play on the All Star team against faculty. Together they formed the Intramural All-Star team.

“Intramural sports is a positive impact because it brings people in the VCU community together,” said Angela Nguyen a VCU junior on the Intramural All-Star Team. Nguyen played quarterback on the All-Star team.

The Big Game

The start of the Faculty vs. Intramural All-Stars had people at the edge of their seats. The crowd was ready to see what each side had to bring to the field. When the whistle was blown the All-Star’s offensive line got into position, staring down their competition. The faculty’s defense took their places while the rest of the team cheered as loudly as they could. The line was set, ball was hiked and the game officially started.

The Faculty team put their heart and soul into every play. They brought out a side of them that most students rarely see. The crowd screamed and cheered whenever a pass was completed. Even with every ball thrown and caught, the faculty couldn’t beat the All-Star team, they wanted to see the Faculty team score at least once so the All-Stars all “mysteriously” fell to the ground for them to have a chance at a touchdown. It was the students turn to hand out zeros for the faculty not showing up.

The Intramural All-Stars crushed the Faculty team with a whooping score of 47-0.

“I felt bad for the faculty but then again they were very competitive,”said Sonny Borja, VCU senior on the Intramural All-Star Team. “They didn’t give up and they ran a lot of good plays. All in all it was really fun. You can see that they had a lot of fun. It was great playing against them.”

Fankauser said he hopes to continue giving students and faculty the chance to play against one another. Intramural sports has been growing in number of sports since the beginning. The department plans to introduce new sports as the season changes.

“Overall I think this has made me a better person,” Nguyen said. “It helped me play the game better and let me make long lasting friendships with people I wouldn’t have met elsewhere.”

Nguyen wants to see the Faculty team improve over the year. She said she hopes to play against them in her senior year with more of a challenge.

“It was fun playing with them but F aculty, step it up,” she said. 

Article by: Michelle Lee, Contributing Writer