Southeast Missouri State has a high involvement with intramural sports, especially flag football. While some may think a Wednesday night game at 11 p.m. is just for fun, senior Aaron Vasquez and the team he put together in 2015 wanted to take it further. In honor of considering all the players lived in Towers East at the time, the team's name is East Squad.

Vasquez is a resident assistant in Towers, and wanted to play flag football with the men on his floor to help them get to know each other better and build friendships. Little did the team know, they would go on to win two Missouri state championships and have the opportunity to travel to Pensacola, Florida, to play in the national tournament.

"I was excited when I saw the guys that were on my floor a few years ago," Vasquez said. "They were all so different, from so many backgrounds, and we just started a team."

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Vasquez explained the purpose of this team wasn't only to play flag football.

"Because of the friendships we built, we have had the opportunity to hang out together, travel together and have Bible studies together," Vasquez said, "and that was really the point of it all."

During the national tournament, the weather wasn't exactly what was to be expected. The team arrived in Pensacola to a rainy 40 degrees with harsh winds.

"It was different," Vasquez said. "It's never fun to play in the rain or cold."

But overall, the tournament itself was eye-opening to the team. The team's first game came with defeat against the University of South Florida, 39-13.

"That game was a wake up call to us," Vasquez said. "They were the best flag football team I've ever seen, not only played against."

Vasquez said that team set the tone for the competition they perhaps had never seen before.

The team's first victory of the tournament was against the University of Western Florida, 19-18.

The rain was nonstop during this game, changing things up for East Squad.

"For a lack of better words, it was a nightmare," Vasquez said. "We felt like we were a lot better of a team than West Florida, but the weather was really preventing us from playing the way we like to play, which is throwing the ball in the air."

That victory qualified the team to advance into the playoffs, placing them within the Sweet 16. The tournament hosted 29 college flag football teams in total.

The first round of the playoffs, the East Squad was up against the two-time, now three-time, national champions, Valdosta State.

To read more, visit SoutheastArrow.com.