Local NCCS team wins 2nd place honors

Many an afternoon was spent on the makeshift gridiron at Nicholls State playing pickup flag football games.

Not just for fun, but to prepare.

The preparation has paid off for the Elite, Nicholls’ flag football team. In December, the team placed second in the National Campus Championship Series (NCCS) Flag Football Tournament on the University of South Florida’s campus.

After last season’s one-point loss in the state tournament, the Elite joined four flag football leagues in the Houma-Thibodaux area in addition to competing in the campus league.

The team also grabbed as many pickup games as possible to ensure they were playing at their peak.

It came as no surprise to them when they won the state title this year, a 50-plus point thrashing of the heavily favored University of New Orleans team. But for the 10-student, ironman Elite team, winning state only marked the beginning.

“We were determined to get better this year after coming so close last year,” said Virgil Guardian. “From playing so well together and being such good friends, it helped us win state. We knew we had the team to do it. I don’t think we knew just how good we would be.”

In Nicholls’ 60-year history, no team has ever competed in a national championship game, but after winning the regional tournament in Hattiesburg, Miss., against the best from Texas, Mississippi, Georgia and Alabama, the Elite got its chance in the NCCS Flag Football Tournament.

When Guardian, Chad Hess, Rusty Boudreaux, Jessie Gauthreaux, Ryan Pitre, Jamey Matherne, Travis Hebert, Ryan Trahan, M.J. Dardar and Nathan Swift set out Dec. 26 for Tampa, Fla., they already knew the moment was special, even if they had to pool their cash for the trip.

Unfortunately, because football is an intramural sport and Nicholls is in the middle of budget cuts, the university was unable to offer assistance.

“We were just like, ‘Wow, how good are we?”‘ Hess said. “For winning regionals, they gave us $750 for the $400 entry fee and $350 to travel. It’s a good thing they did because Nicholls couldn’t help us. We weren’t sure if we could go until maybe two days before we were supposed to be (in Tampa). The whole thing was surreal at that point.”

Over the three-day weekend, the Elite put the small Thibodaux university on the map. In the opening round, they beat a mammoth Ohio State team 35-13.

“When we first got there, we heard we were playing Ohio State, we were like ‘the Ohio State?'” Hess recalled. “We heard that they had beaten last year’s national champion by two touchdowns. So when we beat them, we felt like we belonged there.”

The Elite earned a first-round bye in the championship bracket after going 3-0 in pool play. With wins against Florida Gulf Coast and Olivet University, the Elite reached the national title game pitted against Central Florida.

The game happened to be broadcast on CBS-College Sports, a sports network dedicated just to college sports.

“They came around and said they needed head shots of everyone for stat boxes and things like that during the game,” Hess said. “At that point we didn’t know what to do. We had never experienced anything like that before.”

Nicholls’ Elite’s win streak ended in the final game. They fell 28-7 to a stealthy Central Florida team.

Guardian blames a departure from the team’s original game plan, balancing their offense with passing and running. But when the Elite fell behind, Guardian said they were forced to go to the air more often. It’s something he says the team will improve on before next flag football season.

And with the entire team expected to return to campus next semester, a return trip to nationals is not out of the question.

“We lost 28-7, but we were inside the red zone three other times that we didn’t score,” Guardian said. “It should have been a tied game and we ended up playing their game instead of our game. That’s how they beat us.”

“It’s amazing to get that far, but getting that far and being so close, it just makes us strive for it more,” he added. “It’s to the point where I’ll think about it, and that’s all I know.”

The Elite’s second place finish in the nation earned the team an invitation to compete at the World Tournament in Baja, Mexico, in March.

Raising enough cash for the trip is hard for full-time college students, Guardian said.

Although they are uncertain of the exact cost to get 10 players to Baja, Hess is certain it will be significantly more than the Tampa trip.

But they aren’t giving up. There’s talk of future fundraisers to help defray the cost.

“We are number two in the country and that in itself is an honor,” Guardian said. “We don’t know what’s out there. We could be the best team (in Mexico) or we could be the worst. We know where we stand right now in the United States. We would love to find out how we stand in the world.”

Regardless of what happens with the Mexico trip, Hess said the whole experience has been memorable – something he never expected to experience from playing a simple pickup game of flag football.

“We chat on Facebook with the guys from Ohio State and Central Florida,” Hess said. “We had the chance to meet different people. One of our teammates is talking to a girl from Angelo State from meeting her at the tournament.”

“That’s what all of this is about,” he added. “It’s getting to meet people from all over the country. We’ve made a name for ourselves and Nicholls. Now we want to carry that over into next year.”

Elite quarterback Travis Hebert scrambles from a Central Florida defender during the NCCS National Championship game in December. The Nicholls-based team lost 28-7 but earned the moniker as second-best team in the country. Photo courtesy of MARK WILLIAMS / SEATTLE UNIVERSITY