At the beginning of the Florida A&M Campus Recreation flag football season, Bread Up started the season as defending champions. When the season ended Friday night, they can still claim the title of “defending champions.”
Bread Up continued its dominance of the flag football league with a 28-17 victory over team Unstoppable in the league’s championship game. The league championship allows Bread Up to represent FAMU in the first annual Halloween Bowl against Tallahassee Community College.
Senior Marcus St. Phard holds this championship in a special place compared to the other titles the team received.
“This one is great. We get to leave and graduate all talk,” he said. “So when I leave, my legacy will stay for four years.”
Bread Up took an early lead off their opening drive, marching down the field and scoring a touchdown. Their defense held team Unstoppable scoreless as they entered halftime leading 12-0.
But when halftime ended, team Unstoppable’s offense began to show new life. They drove down the field but where stymied at the goal line.
Team Unstoppable then forced a safety on Bread Up. After the safety punt, quarterback Derrick Spence led the team down for a touchdown, making the score 12-8. It was here that St. Phard admitted was the turning point of the game, when his team switched their quarterback.
“When we put in Brandon George, he made some great plays throwing to the wide open receivers and finding the pitch-back man,” he said.
Bread Up scored again, taking a 19-8 lead. A threat still ensued, as team Unstoppable quarterback Derrick Spence found James Exum on a 40 yard pass in the end zone. Exum, who was named the MVP of the entire league, then scored on the conversion, cutting the lead to 19-17.
However, Bread Up controlled the clock on the last drive. They scored an insurance touchdown as time expired. When they won, they received the trophy, as well as t-shirts showing that they are the champions.
Senior Orlando St. Phard said that the key to stopping team Unstoppable’s offense was disguising the defense.
“We just schemed the defense. For us to go with our plays, it’s all about hiding the defense well,” he said.
The championship game capped off an active season. Some players were talented enough to have the opportunity to come to spring practice for the University team.
Coordinator Wayne Pye said the teams will have a chance to redeem themselves if they decide to have a spring league.
“I’m sure that there will be teams that will go back to the drawing board and try to knock them off for next time,” he said. “Tonight proved that they are beatable, but teams will have to overcome their skill level and intensity.
The Halloween Bowl is set to be played for Monday at 7 on FAMU’s intramural field.