Berry brings football talent to state competition

Koalas, Shorts-N-All competed against top flag football teams for the state title

Flag football has become an outlet for competition for many Berry College students, and for two teams, the Koalas and Shorts-N-All, it also earned them a spot in Georgia's Collegiate Flag Football Championship.

Berry's top silver-division flag football teams, the Koalas (men) and Shorts-N-All (women) got an added bonus this football season. Their journey to the state championship began when they were asked to play in the first annual flag football tournament on Nov. 1 against Shorter College to help benefit Toys for Tots.

The Shorter boys put up a fight, but lost to the Koalas 27-10. Shorts-N-All dominated the Shorter girls with a final score of 32-7.

"We kicked butt this whole season, and I hope we are going to at state,” said Tristan Pierce, a running back for the Koalas, as he gave a hearty laugh.

“This is my second time going to state, and this year my team is more cohesive which will give us a better advantage,” said Rachel White, the defensive corner for Shorts-N-All.

The Koalas and Shorts-N-All attended the 24th Annual Flag Football Tournament held at Georgia Southern University on Nov. 16-18.

The Koalas began by defeating Georgia Institute of Technology’s number one team, Backfield in Motion, 20-12. They then beat Georgia Tech’s number two team, Bluetick Hounds, 26-13. The Koalas advanced to join the final 16 teams in the tournament, only to be defeated by the University of Georgia’s DSGB 0-30.

“It was a long, hard day, but the team is pleased with how well we played,” Pierce said.

Shorts-N-All started against the University of West Georgia’s Fast Break and lost 0-20. Still, they continued and defeated Dem Gurlz from Armstrong Atlantic State University 12-6. Fast Break met up with Shorts-N-All again in the quarterfinals to end Shorts-N-All’s flag football season 0-19. Although they did not win, Shorts-N-All was voted by all the teams in the women’s league to receive the Team Sportsmanship award for the tournament.

Both the Koalas and Shorts-N-All said their teams performed the best they had ever performed at state.

Flag football at Berry
With more than 200 students participating in intramural flag football during the fall 2007 season, one student out of 10 is reaching to pull the opposite teams flags.

According to Ricky Williams, Berry’s director of intramurals and outdoor recreation, students’ main reasons for joining a flag football team is their desire to have fun, be competitive and to win the championship T-shirt. Still, every student has a unique reason for playing.

“I didn’t get to play football in high school, my parents wouldn’t let me, so now I can bring my competitive nature to the football field,” Pierce said.

“Flag football is a great way to exercise without going to the gym,” White said.

Breakdown of the flag football season

• Berry's 2007 flag football season was from Oct. 1 to Nov. 16
• Flag football has a preseason, a regular season and a day-long tournament
• The preseason determines what bracket the team will play in during the season
• Berry has two divisions of flag-football teams: the upper silver division and the lower blue division that are divided into men and women
• The winner of the upper and lower brackets is determined at the end of the tournament
• The two teams that win the Berry-Shorter tournament advance to play in the state tournament

Flag football is the biggest intramural sport at Berry College in the number of people who play, but other intramurals such as softball and soccer bring in a big crowd of participants according to Berry College’s intramural website. According to Williams, out of all of the students on campus about 80 percent participate in intramurals.

{W.J.K.}