UCF to host regional flag football tournament in Nov.

As the road to the collegiate flag football national championships runs through UCF next month, teams hoping to advance must first get past the defending champs – the UCF Immortals.

For the second year in a row, UCF will host the National Campus Championship Series Regional Flag Football Tournament. So far, teams from across Florida, Georgia and South Carolina are committed to play in the tournament, which features men's, women's and co-rec divisions.

UCF's near-legendary Immortals men's team won the tournament last year. The Immortals captured national championships in 2008 and 2009, finished second in the national tournament last year and were named the top UCF intramural team of the last decade. And they don't plan on letting up.

"First and foremost, we don't want anyone else coming to our school and holding up a trophy other than us," said team member Brandon Baroody, a senior accounting and marketing major.

But the Immortals may not even be the best team from UCF. After winning the regional tournament at UCF last year, co-rec team Women Lie Men Lie won its second consecutive NCCS national title. Baroody also plays on that team in addition to coaching UCF's top women's team, Bad Girls Club.

"Right now, I think we're maybe as good as we've ever been," Baroody said. "I don't expect anything less than a championship from all three of our teams."

Recreation and Wellness Center Intramural Sports/RWC Park Coordinator Michael Husted acknowledged UCF's winning tradition.

"For our program, we've been very lucky," Husted said. "In recent years, we've had men's, women's and co-rec national champions all come from our school."

Teams can still sign up for the extramural tournament, which is Nov. 4-6, on the UCF Recreation and Wellness website until Oct. 26. Registration is open to multiple teams from colleges in the region, and games use the same National Intramural-Recreational Sports Association rules used in intramural sports on campus. The team entry fee is $150 for UCF students, and winning teams from each division will receive an invitation and a stipend to play in the NCCS National Tournament at Texas A&M University in College Station, Texas, Jan. 4-6, 2012.

Husted pointed out UCF's central location and six state-of-the-art artificial-turf fields as part of the attraction for the tournament.

"We want to continue to host it because we have some really nice facilities compared to some other schools with our turf fields and everything," Husted said. "Students don't normally get to play on synthetic turf, so it's kind of a cool experience for them."

And hosting the tournament could lead to bigger things for UCF.

"If we do it right, there might be the potential for us to get the national championship in a couple years," Husted said.

The tournament also provides opportunities for students from UCF and other schools working as tournament officials to learn and possibly earn a spot at the championship tournament.

"We have a really strong officiating program here. … the top referees in the country a lot of times come from our program," Husted said. "From that, there have only been maybe 12 female All-Americans from throughout NIRSA, and we have, I think, six of them. It's a testament to our female officials that they get to that point, and they're recognized as some of the best in the country."

One of those All-American officials, senior advertising/public relations major Alex Prano, looks forward to working this year's tournament.

"Having a regional on our campus is a huge deal. It's a huge opportunity for us," Prano said. "It just provides a way for our name to get out there even more, especially through recreation and rec sports. Also, it gives our students an opportunity to be in charge of statistics, helping with the officials committee and having more of a leadership role on campus."