The Sigma Chi fraternity held off a late TKO comeback to win the flag football all-campus championship Monday night 14-7.
“It feels amazing,” Sigma Chi quarterback Sam Hamilton said. “We’ve been playing together for four years now. Five of our nine guys are seniors, so it’s been special for us to go all the way here.
Sigma Chi grabbed early momentum when Stan Ingram intercepted a pass and returned it into TKO territory. Hamilton then connected with Ingram, who caught it at the five and took it in for six. Hamilton ran it in to convert the extra point, giving Sigma Chi an early 7-0 lead.
With TKO unable to answer the touchdown, Sigma Chi took the ball back and drove down the field again. Hamilton hit Charles Hamm in the back of the end zone for the second score of the game. Tyler Peterson followed up with the one-point conversion, making it 14-0 at the half.
“We didn’t come out prepared,” TKO quarterback Jordan Miller said. “We thought we could just come out here and win. We couldn’t play on offense. Our defense did what it had to, but our offense just couldn’t put it in the end zone.”
At the start of the second half, TKO worked hard to put together a touchdown drive, but it was cut short when Peterson intercepted a pass in the end zone.
“We really came together and worked as a team,” Peterson said. “The other team is a really good team. They put up a really good game.”
The ball went back and forth between the teams throughout the second half. Sigma Chi couldn’t produce points off the turnover. But when the ball went back to TKO, Grant McCabe came up with another Sigma Chi interception.
A flag-guarding penalty stalled the ensuing drive, allowing TKO to take over and finally work some magic on offense. Miller ran the ball down to the three-yard line, and Logan Thomas scored on the next play. Courtney Hood converted the extra point to cut the lead in half, 14-7.
At the end, TKO nearly had a safety on Sigma Chi but didn’t quite get there. When TKO got the ball back with less than two minutes left, they had one last chance to tie the game but couldn’t find a rhythm and came up empty.
“This win is tremendous. We’re so excited,” Hamilton said. “A lot of people didn’t give us a chance because we’re in the greek league, but we showed them that we can play too.”
With this victory in hand, Sigma Chi receives a bid to the National Flag Football Tournament taking place in Orlando, Fla. The tournament, sponsored by Under Armor and Nike, will take place the second weekend in January.
“We’re excited to be going down there,” Hamilton said. “This is a huge accomplishment to win here, so we’re going to go down there and see how we can play.”
Earlier in the year, Hamilton also participated in a 3-on-3 flag football tournament sponsored by the Student Recreation Center. TKO receivers C.J. Bland and Cortez Hill, Hamilton and Brett Burgin made up the team that won the tournament.
The team received four tickets to the SEC Championship game and three nights in a hotel in Atlanta. Before the SEC Championship on Saturday, they will play in a flag football tournament, playing other SEC teams like LSU, Florida and Ole Miss.
“It’s going to be a blast,” Burgin said. “We thought it was only going to be a one-day thing, and they turned it into a three-day thing. It’s supposed to be the real deal, so we’ll go there and play a couple of games.”
Other scores:
Men’s Semi-Pro – The Joke Show 25 Grizzlies 23
Co-Rec – Usual Suspects 21 OH YEAH 9
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