Intramurals: Pike brings home GSU tourney title
GCSU flag football preserved its status as a force in the state of Georgia this past weekend.
A team from Pi Kappa Alpha fraternity traveled to Georgia Southern University on Sept. 12 and 13 to compete in GSU’s Campus Outreach-sponsored tournament, Battle in the ‘Boro, in Statesboro. They returned to Milledgeville banged up and bruised, but hoisting a first place trophy.
Pike competed in the Men’s A division, grinding it out with teams from GSU, Valdosta State University, College of Charleston and GCSU. Only half of Pike’s usual flag football team was able to make the trip.
Joe Voltner, a senior management major and veteran of the Pike squad, was optimistic about his team’s chances heading into the event.
“This is our third year going to the tournament,” he said. “We knew some of the teams from down in Valdosta and Charleston and we’ve played them before, so we thought we were going to do pretty good against them.”
Competition at the tournament, while still strong, was not as tough as it had been in recent years. White Out and a few of the usual fundamentally sound and seasoned teams from Georgia Southern were not in attendance.
However, Pike’s road to the championship did not come easily. Injuries to key players threatened to force the team into a forfeit, but Pike battled on, playing the championship game with only seven players – the minimum number allowed.
“One of our kids, Jeff, he tore his ACL,” Voltner said. “Then Drew (Hutchins), he actually ran into another one of our players, Will (Funderburke), and he sustained a concussion and a broken nose. I’ve never seen so much blood. It was crazy.”
Pike played one game Friday night and followed it up with three more Saturday, the last two pushing into double overtime. With back-to-back games and 90-degree heat bearing down on the GSU intramural complex, participants were struggling to stay motivated.
“We were all so tired,” Funderburke, a senior accounting major, said. “We were dead. None of us had anything left in the tank.”
Pike battled onward, winning the championship game by seven points in double overtime.
The Battle in the ‘Boro trophy will be on display in Pike’s trophy case at the Grove Apartments.
In addition to the excitement of their recent accomplishment, Pike played perennial powerhouse White Out last night in a thrilling game at GCSU.
Down by seven, Pike scored a touchdown with 40 seconds left, pulling them to within one point. They elected to go for the two-point conversion and the win, instead of the conventional one-point play and tie. Quarterback Drew Epting’s pass fell incomplete, solidifying yet another win for White Out.
“We don’t regret the decision,” Voltner said. “We’d rather win than tie anyday.”
Posted by Colonnade Archives
on Sep 19 2008. Filed under Sports.
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