Last year’s Fortuna Bowl champions were not ready to relinquish their titles as they faced off against two new teams in this year’s flag football championship game.
On Friday Nov. 5, four intramural flag football teams met on California Baptist University’s altered front lawn for an annual tradition that boasted high attendance (an estimate 2000 people) and more attractions than in previous years.
The women’s game, which began at 7:30 p.m., featured the Bus Drivers, returning champions, and S.W.A.T team (Strong Women Attain Touchdowns), who was ranked number one at the end of the flag football season and had no losses.
S.W.A.T did not play the Bus Drivers during the regular season.
Since S.W.A.T held first place, they called the coin toss prior to the start of the game. They called “heads”; it landed on tails.
Bus Drivers won 8-0 after an equally matched game. Each team had possession of the ball a similar amount of times; the Bus Drivers were just able to make valuable offensive plays.
“It was super fun. They were just even better than I thought,” Julie Prins, the quarterback for S.W.A.T, said. “I think our defense did really good. I don’t think our offense did bad, but I don’t think they were ready for what [the Bus Drivers] were giving us. So, we just weren’t able to get touchdowns. It was still a good game.”
Jay Stovall, S.W.A.T’s coach, remarked similarly to his quarterback.
“It’s a very tough loss because our girls put a lot of work in, but I give the other team credit,” Stovall said. “They worked hard and did well. I would say they have a really solid line, so [we needed to be] able to give our quarterback more time.”
The men’s game began at 8:45 p.m. and like the women’s game, Dynasty took the win against Young and Reckless by only eight points.
The final score was 8-0.
Josh Mott, the quarterback and one of the captain’s of Dynasty, played with the team for the past four years. Out of those four years, Dynasty won the Fortuna Bowl two times, including Friday night’s win.
“I do feel that this is a dynasty,” Mott said. And this he attributes to the fact that Dynasty has team work and they just play hard.
The Quarterback and Captain of Young and Reckless, Scotty Jones, also attributed his team’s success this season to their “cohesiveness” and “unity.”
“We have great, great guys that put their heart out on the line and play 110%,” Jones said.
Even though they were a new team, Young and Reckless was able to give Dynasty a tough fight.
After all the planning that went into this year’s championship game, Chris Hofscroer, the director of community life, reflected on this year’s Fortuna Bowl.
“I think it went really well. I’ve been here since the Fall of ‘99 and I would say, this is the best Fortuna Bowl I’ve seen,” Hofschroer said. “I think the Rec Sports and CAB Staff did a really good job. Just all the little attention to details: doubling the bleachers, shading on the numbers, adding the numbers, the painted inzone. We had a ton of people out here tonight. Plus, just two really good games.”
