UA Flag Football Team Wins Third Place in National Championship Tournament

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — A University of Alabama flag football team, Southern Comfort, won third place and the Sportsmanship Award at the 21st Annual Flag Football National Championship Tournament hosted recently by the University of New Orleans.

Southern Comfort was invited to the tournament by winning the University’s campus championship. The team, through UA Student Government Association funding and teammates’ own contributions, traveled to New Orleans and was one of 20 teams that competed for the national title.

The UA student team members of Southern Comfort include: Stephanie Applegate, Kenny Davis, Herb Ragsdale Jr., and Robert Steele, all of Tuscaloosa; Nancy Boyd, Montgomery; Christy Chesnut, Northport; Howard Davidson, Huntsville; Chris Hall, Trussville; and Ginny Keith, Collierville, Tenn.

Southern Comfort won third place in the competition, receiving a trophy for being a finalist. According to Steele, the team captain, the trophy did not mean as much as receiving the Sportsmanship Award. “For us as a team, it means that we can go off to these tournaments, play and have fun, but most of all showing that we have class while serving as ambassadors for the University,” he said.

“We represent the school, our team and ourselves with integrity, knowing that we are not always going to have things go our way. We always show respect for the officials and the other players. We recognize that although winning is important, preserving our character as individuals and as a team is more important,” Keith, Southern Comfort teammate, commented.

The core of the team has been together for three years. Each year, the team develops and becomes stronger. The first year the team finished in the top 20 in the nation. The second year Southern Comfort finished in the top 10, and the third year they achieved third place. The team plans to continue competing next year, striving to be named flag football national champions.

In October, Southern Comfort also competed in a tournament at the campus of Ohio State University. The team finished second out of eight teams in the tournament. The team finished the season with a 17-5 record.

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Carin Charles or Linda Hill, Office of Media Relations, 205/348-8325