Flag football team advances to national championship tourney
Released: December 13, 2006
UW-Whitewater's Men's Flag Football Team, the
Crimson Beavers
As the Warhawk football team continues on another run for the National Championship, many may not realize that the university has another football team vying for a National title. The UW-Whitewater Crimson Beavers men's flag football team has flown underneath the radar and dominated their regional finals leading them to a National Championship berth.
Recently the men's flag football team defended its all-campus championship title by winning the single-elimination regional tournament at the University of Western Kentucky. The team will travel to Pensacola, Fla. to participate in the National Championship tournament from Dec. 28-31 in hopes of winning its first-ever flag football championship.
"It is pretty exciting to know that we have already beaten Division 1 schools, and it will be really cool to see how we can compete against all the other teams," senior Matt Miller said. "I expect the competition to be even better in the national tournament. There are four regionals and the top two teams from each regional get entered into the national tournament. After that anybody can pay their way into nationals, so it should be fun."
For winning the regional championship, the UW-Whitewater men's flag football team were given a trophy, championship t-shirts and a paid entry into the national championship. The only problem for the team is that they currently do not have enough money to travel to the tournament.
"We figure it will cost the team $3,500 to get everyone down there," graduate student Adam Beilke said. "As part of winning the regional, we will receive a $1,000 travel stipend, but after the national championship. We will need to raise a total of $2,500 ourselves."
The flag football team is looking for any donations to defer their travel costs. They are looking for sponsors or anyone willing to help pay for expenses. Among those who hope to participate in the National Championship for the Crimson Beaver flag football team are Miller, Beilke, senior Brett Schmitz, senior Kyle Johnson, sophomore Chad Seely, sophomore Ryan Krueger, junior Jeff Weber, senior Noah Rusch, senior Josh Virant, sophomore Joe Dundon and sophomore Matt Ingram.
For more information and how you can help the Crimson Beavers get to the National Championship games, contact Beilke at beilkear07@uww.edu.
- Chad Guild,guildca16@uww.edu
