“You come out once, you’re hooked,” said Amanda Alpert, director of intramural sports and sport clubs. “The people here just have big hearts and everybody here, they just love playing the game.”
Campus Recreation and the Mississippi chapter of Special Olympics Mississippi hosted the first Unified flag football championship Thursday.
Unified Sports unites Special Olympics athletes with partners in friendly sporting competitions worldwide.
Ole Miss hosts the only current Special Olympics college chapter in Mississippi.
Shannon High School student Jesse Roach caught the game’s first touchdown and added a two-point conversion, but was most excited simply to be playing.
“I’m just glad to be on a team,” Roach said.
Before the league began this semester, Campus Recreation held a skills day to divide athletes into equal teams, the Landsharks and Rebels, to ensure competitive games.
Senior special education major Mary Evelyn Webb said her favorite part of the Unified games were athletes’ reactions after big plays.
“Every time Jesse makes a catch or has a D, he throws up the Landshark fin,” Webb said.
Landsharks player Taylor Rosenthal and his father Bill competed at the Special Olympics World Games earlier this year in Los Angeles.
“When Taylor and I are playing golf, we get to play together and be together a lot,” Bill Rosenthal said. “[Unified Sports] has been a great experience and I hope we can continue it.”
Rosenthal’s backfield reverse and 35-yard scamper helped propel the Landsharks into a late-game tie.
The Rebels finished the game strongly, clinching a 25-19 victory, and teams gathered to celebrate their season. Ole Miss football players Evan Engram, Trae Elston and Denzel Nkemdiche presented teams with silver and gold medals after the game.
Players from Thursday’s game, as well as students from Mississippi State University, will compete in the second annual Unified Egg Bowl on Nov. 16 at the Ole Miss intramural complex. Last year, the two schools and supporters raised over $12,000 through the event.
