Intramural flag football came to an end on Oct. 21 with the men’s bracket coming down to the Pi Kapp A team vs the Iowa Hawkeyes, the team name for Alpha Tau Omega’s A team.
Attendance was high as this was anticipated to be an exciting game. A significant number of the ATΩ chapter was in attendance, all wearing white to support and match their team.
Also in attendance was a small group of high school students, led by 2 pastors, who showed up to cheer on the Pi Kapp A team. Matt Dickey, the middle school pastor at Trussville Baptist Church, is a coworker of one of the Pi Kapp players, Barrett Willingham. He brought a group of high school students who attend his church to the Pete Hannah Stadium. Not only did they watch the game but painted “Barrett” on their chests. They brought a megaphone, posters and painted jerseys. They followed the team up and down the field and yelled in support of the Pi Kapp A team.
“We knew he was a stud and he was in the Heisman race, so we got the boys, we brought a bus and brought them up here,” said Dickey
Despite the chill in the air, their energy was high throughout the entire game; they were running up and down the bleachers all night. The Pi Kappa Phi members in attendance were a big fan of the new fans and gave them other ideas of ways they could cheer on the team.
Even though the Trussville group was hoping for Barrett’s name to be called for the Heisman trophy, it went to Eli Wildman, also on Pi Kapp A.
Wildman said, “Their job is to make me look good, and my job is to make them look good, and I’d say they succeeded.” Wildman was presented with the Heisman prior to the championship game and then led his team to a 25-14 victory over the Iowa Hawkeyes.
After the game Wildman said “This was a team effort. Everybody played their part, everybody did their job and it worked.” Pi Kapp A was crowned the IM flag football champion and did so with the Heisman winner and a little help from a high school ministry.
Staff Reporter
