Cody Stark
After rolling through the regular season unbeaten the Sam Houston State women’s intramural flag football squad Goin’ Deep was pretty much a lock to win their second national title at the ACIS Flag Football Championships in Florida on Dec. 31.
Goin’ Deep cruised through pool play, and when the time came to fill out the championship brackets, the other tops teams stacked one side in order to stay away from the defending champs.
With a 14-6 win over North Carolina’s Campbell and a 33-0 blasting of Central Arkansas, Goin’ Deep set up a meeting with the tournament host, Western Florida’s Next 2 None, in the championship game. But on a wet New Year’s Eve, sloppy conditions caused some turnovers and gave UWF great field position en route to a 20-0 victory.
“It was wet and that led to a couple of fumbled snaps, which backed us up,” Goin’ Deep head coach Danny Bennett said. “We had a 1-yard punt in the game and a couple of interceptions. We played great defense, but all of their scores came on good field position. They only had to go 20 or 25 yards each time they scored.”
The loss was Goin’ Deep’s first all season, but a week later, the team from SHSU had a rare opportunity — a chance to face Western Florida in another national championship game.
The National Intramural-Recreational Sports Association held its own national championship tournament in Richardson on Jan. 4-6. Again Goin’ Deep rolled through pool play and opened up the playoff bracket with a 32-7 thumping of Texas State.
In the second round, Central Florida was SHSU’s next victim, and Next 2 None topped Vanderbilt to set up the championship rematch.
This time around, nothing could stop Goin’ Deep from capping off the season with their second national title in two years, as the ladies from SHSU pummeled Next 2 None 25-7 with only nine of their 15 players making the trip.
“I remember telling the team that we had a week to get ready and go back out and win a national championship,” Bennett said. “In the past, we had to wait a whole year, but because there were two championships we got another chance. Luckily we got to face Western Florida again, and this time they didn’t have an answer for us.”
Goin’ Deep got on the board on their first possession when quarterback Tabitha Brown set up a 3-yard touchdown pass to tournament most valuable player April Ward after an 18-yard strike to Jamie Tomasini.
Next 2 None answered with a touchdown on the ensuing possession, but that would the last time they found the end zone.
Goin’ Deep’s other scores came on passes from Brown to Annie Miller and Ward. The national championship victory capped off a 20-1 season.
Brown, Miller and Jessica Hatch were named to the all-tournament team.
Before the national championships, Goin’ Deep also won the Nebraska regional Nov. 16-20.
Ashley Swim, Diana Tejada, Brown, Miller and Hatch were named to the all-regional team, and Ward was named the most valuable player.
Brown, Miller, Tomasini and Ward were also named to the ACIS All-American team in Florida.
Because the cost of travel and lodgings is so expensive, the team held a successful raffle and received donations from businesses and SHSU to help them win their second national championship. Hillcrest Ford even donated a van free of charge so Goin’ Deep to go to Nebraska.
“It costs a lot of money for us to travel around the country and we would like to thank everyone who made this possible,” Bennett said. “By people helping us out, it shows how hard we work to represent the community. There are people at universities all over the country that know the name Sam Houston State because of the success we have had.”
Other Goin’ Deep team members include Samantha Edelman, Ashley Kirkland, Arica Washington, Brittani Hashaw, Kathyrn Socha, Jenny Stout, Jennifer Mathews and Chalie Dishongh.
