Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ã½â€™s team “Check On Itâ€� used a fourth-quarter comeback to defeat Florida A&M University 7-6 to successfully defend last year’s national championship.

Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ã½â€™s suffocating defense was the story of the tournament. The team started with back-to-back shutouts, combining for 80 points, in preliminary action with wins over Campbell University and Ferris State. In the tournament round, Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ã½ continued the tough defense with shutout wins over North Carolina A&T in the quarterfinals and Howard University in the semifinals. 

Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ã½ outscored opponents 119-6 during the three-day event, giving up its first and only score in the championship game when FAMU took a 6-0 lead late in the first half.

Senior center and corner, Dannica Mosher, said Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ã½â€™s defense set the tone for this year’s title.

“Giving up only 6 points is quite the accomplishment and I thank our incredible defense for that,� she said.

Late in the fourth quarter, tournament MVP Tatianne Dearaujo, reached the end zone to tie the game at 6-6. Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ã½ quarterback Keimy Milanes then completed a pass to Amanda Hall for a successful point after touchdown and the lead.

FAMU did get the ball back with time on the clock, but Hall intercepted a pass to stop the Rattlers’ threat with less than 2 minutes to go.
Check On It was led by Milanes, who suffered a serious knee injury on the first day of last year’s tournament, Dearaujo and Charlene Thome. NIRSA honored all three women as part of the All-Tournament team. The team is coached by Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ã½ graduate Brandon Baroody, a NIRSA Championship Series Flag Football Hall of Famer. 

Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ã½ now has 42 All-Americans in the tournament’s history and Dearaujo is the 17th Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ã½ student to be named tournament MVP.  

“What’s so special about this team is we’re much more than that, these girls and Brandon are family,� she said.

Shane Land, assistant director of Intramural Sports at the Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ã½ Recreation and Wellness Center, credits the team’s hard work ethic for the sustained success.

“They practice and play in tournaments year round in preparation for the national tournament and that work ethic is what has led to their success,� he said.

Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ã½ men’s, women’s and co-rec flag football teams have now won 12 national titles since the first tournament in 1979, the most flag football titles of any school in North America.

Baroody has been a part of nine of Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ã½â€™s 12 titles as a player or coach.

Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ã½â€™s Co-Rec Team also made the final four of the tournament which also features student officials, including three from Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ã½: Kelsey Jones, Randy Korn and Sammie Fitzell.

All three helped Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ã½ set records on the football field this year.

While Bortles and Plummer led Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ã½ to the university’s first BCS bowl game and victory, Hall and the rest of her women’s flag football team, “Check On It,â€� won the women’s division of the NIRSA Championship Series National Flag Football Championships. The victory gave Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ã½ its 11th national flag football championship, putting the university ahead of FAMU and making Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ã½ the most decorated flag football program in the nation.

Hall said: “It’s a surreal feeling (winning the national championship) with these girls I’ve become best friends with over the past two years. It feels great for our women’s flag team to be the one that puts Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ã½ on top with the most flag football national championships.â€�

Hall’s team defeated a squad from Mexico’s Universidad Autonoma de Nuevo Leon by a score of 27-0 at the National Intramural-Recreational Sports Association Championships, hosted this year by the University of West Florida in Pensacola.

Winning flag football championships isn’t the only thing that the Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ã½ intramurals program is good at. Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ã½ has a sports-officiating development program that has produced alumni that are now officiating at the highest levels of sports.

Officials hailing from Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ã½ can be found in Division 1 college football and basketball and the NBA.

Students who decide to join the sports-officiating development program receive plenty of training at Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ã½, where 21,000 students participated in intramural sports during the 2012-2013 academic year.

The Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ã½ Recreation and Wellness Center, which oversees intramural sports and the officiating program, hosts 41 different sports tournaments or leagues a year and has about 110 participants in its sports-officiating program.

Intramural sports available this spring include softball, 4-on-4 flag football, basketball, Wiffle ball, floor hockey, racquetball and others.

To learn more about intramural sports at Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ã½ and how to sign up, visit,.