Corey Reese
Published: January 9, 2006
PJC’s flag football team defeated defending champion Georgia Southern 29-26 to win the American Collegiate Intramural Sports National Flag football title.
The New Year’s weekend tournament saw the Pirates go 6-0 en route to that title. Doug Rogers was named Offensive MVP and Kirk Slay was named Defensive MVP. Kyle Brooks and Nathan Elder were named to the All-American team for defense and offense respectively.
“I felt like we could have taken the game if we only made one or two plays,” Rogers said. “One or two plays and we could have won by two or three touchdowns. Penalties and dropped passes hurt us though.”
Four new starters for PJC made this team younger than the team that lost to Georgia Southern last season. The record of PJC coming into the tournament was 5-3 compared to 12-0 last year. The game that really gave the team the confidence needed was in the semi-finals of the tournament against Southern Baton Rouge. Southern Baton Rouge converted a 2-point conversion with under a minute remaining to go up 40-39. PJC had 53 seconds to drive the length of the field with no timeouts. With 18 seconds left PJC, scored winning the game 47-40
“Everyone stepped up and made plays. With the new starters we had they showed a lot of veteran savvy. Everyone was loose and relaxed before the title game which is a good feeling,” Rogers said.
The play that ended the title hopes for Georgia Southern came on the last play for them. Down 29-26, Georgia Southern was driving down the field. With two seconds left, however, Slay jumped up and intercepted the pass of Georgia Southern, sealing the victory for PJC and along with it, the national title.