Winning and football at Idaho State University are not usually something that goes hand-in-hand but a flag football team made up of ISU students showed that we know how to handle a pigskin.
The team, known as the Rick Flares, competed in intramural flag football at ISU this semester. After winning the A League Championship, the best league at ISU, the team earned a spot in the 2012 National Intramural Recreational Sports Association‘s National Campus Championship Series Regional Flag Football Tournament.
Senior Tyson Cuoio along with K.C. Rivera led the team. Cuoio had 19 touchdowns passes and only one interception as the quarterback of the team. He has competed in flag football for seven years and has won three out of the last four A League Championships at ISU.
The Rick Flares went undefeated in intramurals and even beat a team made up of former ISU football players three times during the season.
“Winning ISU intramurals isn’t just a Sunday stroll through the tulips, its blood fire,” said Cuoio.
By winning the intramural league the Rick Flares were invited to Tempe, AZ to compete in a national tournament.
The tournament consisted of 16 teams, all from the west coast.
They dumped the team name the Rick Flares and adopted the name Team Idaho.
“Every time we’d step on to play, the other team would just look at us like, who the hell are these scrubs from Idaho,” said Cuoio.
After going 2-0 in pool play and outscoring their opponents 71-18, they moved onto a single-game elimination tournament where they were ranked third.
Team Idaho continued its dominance and beat a team from Colorado 47-0 and then beat a team from Utah State 35-7 before beating a team from Las Vegas University 24-12 to advance to the championship game.
With only an hour between games Team Idaho ran out of steam and lost 28-14 and came away with second place and an invitation to Nationals in Florida.
Despite the invitation to compete Cuoio said, “Not sure if we’ll ever play again, it’s a bloody shame to split up such a delicious crew. Motley, yes we may be, but we played like kids and won like kings.”
