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Legion beat Cowboys in close final game

By Eric Gregory
[email protected]
Staff Writer

The Legion of Doom are the flag football champions of Georgia Highlands College.

On Nov. 5, the Legion of Doom went against the Cowboys to see who would walk home as intramural flag football champions. In a season of close games and exciting finishes, the championship lived up to the rest of the season.

The game opened up with a quick three play scoring drive by the Legion of Doom. With a missed extra point, they lead 6-0.

However, the Cowboys responded in the very next drive. They converted key fourth down plays and were able to punch it in, making the extra point, to take the lead 7-6.

The lead would switch hands once again, after the Legion of Doom marched down the field and scored. The runner was able to weave his way through several defenders, without any of them coming close to his flag.

At the end of the half, the score was 12-7, with the Legion of Doom holding the slim lead.

The Cowboys opened up the second half but ended up turning over the ball with a ill-advised interception. The Legion of Doom took advantage of the turnover and were able to punch it in for another score, even after suffering through a touchdown called back because of an offsides penalty.

Down 19-7, the Cowboys did not falter and drove the length of the field to close the lead to three with a rare three-point conversion to make it 19-16.

With less than five minutes to go, the Legion of Doom were hoping to score once more and end the game as soon as possible. However, they failed on a risky fourth-down conversion and turned the ball over to the Cowboys with two minutes to go.

Right after the turnover, the Cowboys capitalized with a long touchdown pass to bring them ahead 19-22.

With under a minute left, the Legion drove down the field with a focused mindset, rushing after every play to not waste a second. It turned out that one second made all the difference.

On the 20 yard line, after a short pass, the Legion rushed to the scrimmage line. In a move that caused much controversy, they set the ball themselves and hiked it. The quarterback threw the ball to the left side of the end zone where it was brought down by a wide receiver to clinch the game 25-22.

Immediately, the Cowboys protested with accusations that the receiver had been off sides when the play begun.

"The player cannot set the ball and hike it," said Chris Doogan, angry over the loss. "They had too many people in motion too."

A few other Cowboys were also upset about the loss. "They got lucky," said Nick Rucker. "They got really lucky."

The controversy about the game was not enough to damper the Legion's spirits however. The team cheered themselves for their heroic effort.

"It feels awesome," said Ben Claytor, who was a key component in Legion's effort to win the championship.