At California Baptist University’s annual Homecoming Weekend, longstanding intramural football teams the Bus Drivers and Webelos dominated the women’s and men’s games, respectively, at the 23rd annual Fortuna Bowl flag football championship Nov. 8.
In the women’s game, the Bus Drivers and SWAT, the same teams who competed in last year’s game, matched up to see who could win this year. The men’s game featured one returning team, the Webelos, who competed against a brand-new team, Fruit of the Boom, and the game was dominated by defense.
The Bus Drivers put up touchdown points halfway through the first half, and built on their first score throughout the rest of the game. SWAT, on the other hand, struggled to find their momentum.
Going into halftime, the Bus Drivers were in the lead. Ian Price, coach for the Bus Drivers and resident director for the West Colony Apartments, said at halftime that he was proud of his team and their hard work.
“The defense is doing well, so we just need to come out in the second half and fight,” Price said.
As the second half of the game commenced, the women came out in full force and determination by not only preventing SWAT from scoring any points for the remainder of the game, but also adding two additional touchdowns to their score.
With a final score of 18-0, the Bus Drivers added one more Fortuna championship win to their record, making it six championships in a row.
Meagan Bellefeuille, senior kinesiology major, was named Most Valuable Player of the women’s game. She said she is honored to be a part of the Bus Drivers, and she gave credit to each of the team members for their sixth win.
“I was surprised by the honor of MVP,” Bellefeuille said. “During the game, I was focused on doing my jobs to the best of my ability and I’m glad it all turned out well.”
Mikayla Lammons, senior liberal studies major and the Bus Drivers’ co-captain, said she enjoyed the entire game and was appreciative of all the support the team has received.
“Our MVP, Meagan, has been a huge asset to the team not only with her athletic ability, but with her heart for us as individuals,” Lammons said.
On the men’s side, the Webelos came to this year’s competition ready to fight after experiencing two rounds of overtime and ultimately succumbing to Stealth 2.0 at Fortuna last year.
The men’s game was dominated by powerful defense throughout the first half, but neither team scored until the second half. That quickly changed 10 minutes in the second half when the Webelos not only scored a touchdown, but also successfully scored an additional two points. The game ended 8-0 as the Webelos were able to redeem last year’s loss for this year’s victory.
The men’s game had an MVP in Bobby Frisch, Webelos quarterback and senior healthcare administration major. As he accepted his award, Frisch gave a shoutout to his teammate, RJ Martinez, who went to great lengths to be open for the only touchdown the team scored.
“It feels great to win after last year, and we had really great line work,” Frisch said. “We worked hard.”
