Despite a weekend on the road for Texas football, Darrell K Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium was still open for business.
The friendly banter that showered down on the intramural athletes on Sunday, Nov. 16, starkly contrasted the roar of a typical Saturday in DKR. Only so much noise could be generated by the friends and family who dotted the mostly empty estimated 100,000 seats.
For the second year running, RecSports partnered with Texas Athletics and Nike to host the Intermural Flag Football Champ Night in DKR. Across four different divisions — Coed, Fraternity, Women and Men — student-athletes across the University had the opportunity to win the prized IM Champions shirt and Nike shoes.
However, according to junior Coy Kelso, taking the field in DKR was a reward in itself. With his team called NWO Wolfpac, Kelso won the Coed championship 13-0 on the same field he saw growing up.
“I’ve always wanted to play in DKR,” Kelso said. “I grew up a Texas fan, so this is a dream come true. Playing here and winning this year was phenomenal. I loved it.”
Upon arriving, spectators entered a raffle to be selected for mini-games in between championships for the chance to take home Nike merchandise. After a fan field goal competition, Phi Gamma Delta, otherwise known as FIJI, took the shortened 80-yard IM field looking to defend last year’s title.
FIJI’s opponent, the Benchwarmers, representing Beta Upsilon Chi, or BYX, jumped to an early 7-0 lead after two interceptions in as many possessions. However, thanks to a rushing touchdown from junior Mauricio Sampayo, FIJI leveled the game at 7-7 to force overtime.
After an interception from junior Robert Riser and Sampayo’s second rushing touchdown of the night, FIJI reclaimed the fraternity title with a 13-7 victory.
“It’s money,” Riser said. “You get here every Saturday (as a fan) and the atmosphere is electric. All you’re doing is looking at the field like ‘Man, I wish I could play on that thing.’ And then you come here on a Sunday night and you take away the dub.”
In 2010, Nike sponsored the first-ever Longhorn Run. Since then, the apparel giant has signed a lucrative brand deal with Texas Athletics and strengthened its relationship with Texas RecSports to become more involved in campus life.
“In about 2015, we came back together with Nike to expand the partnership to include all of our RecSports programs and services,” said Randall Ford, the Texas RecSports director of Communications & Development. “Nike wanted to have a larger presence on campus with the student body and their mission and our mission here at RecSports aligned, and we’ve been great partners ever since.”
After the NWO Wolfpac and FIJI took home their titles, a team called Shrek dominated the women’s championship 43-0 to recapture the title under the DKR lights for the second straight year. Finally, it was the men’s champion, Snickers Snickers Snicker, who defeated the Legal Beagles to end the night with a 14-6 win.
“The intramural program is always looking for ways to give people really cool, lifelong memory experiences,” Texas RecSports Director of Programs Andy Lemons said. “The team here works really hard to create these elevated experiences, to give kids a really competitive outlet and give them a place to be with their friends, to reduce stress, and to make these memories. So, we look forward to doing it.”
