Simson Garcia | Sports Editor
It was on Jan. 5 through Jan. 7 in Pensacola, Florida, that the Wolves flag football club earned their shot at competing for a national flag football championship.
The result, however, went unfavorably for the team, unable to grab wins in pool play for tournament seeding. They entered play first against Tennessee Tech in a losing effort, 14-19, before their historic season concluded against Central Florida, 12-21.
On the experience of playing at a large platform in Florida, a rarity for Western, junior quarterback Cody Chimienti viewed it as a learning tool, “I didn’t have super-high expectations being that none of us had ever been there before … but now that we’ve had a feel for the sort of competition there, we’re looking forward to returning.”
In the same way that the Wolves competed against bigger schools with a larger crop of athletes in and around the Washington-Pullman area, so was the case in Florida. But if anything, the teams in Florida were larger. Teams like the previous ones, Rutgers University and Loyola-Marymount are all division one schools, and this tournament had more of them.
Getting their first piece of the competition, Western struck with a rainbow pass for the beginning touchdown against Tennessee Tech. After trading scores, and with three minutes left in the second half, Tennessee scored the go-ahead touchdown to seal the game.
Versus Central Florida, Western again jumped out early, scoring a touchdown on the first drive. After scoring again late in the second half on an 80-yard play, they couldn’t adjust to the unique attacking offense of UCF, going down.
“For our first time as a team,” said Chimienti, “for Western, going to Pullman and Florida, I think it was a pretty big accomplishment.”
Speaking on the significance of the season and on the accomplishment, Chimienti spoke optimistically for the future commenting “I think it’s going to open doors for the future and potential athletes to want to come join us.”
Contact the author at journalsports@wou.edu
