Milligan hosts first collegiate flag football amid women's sports growth
ELIZABETHTON, Tenn. (WCYB) — It was a history-making day at Citizens Bank Stadium in Elizabethton on Saturday, as the school hosted its first collegiate flag football game in the state of Tennessee.
With the recent surge in women's sports, the return of women's flag after a year hiatus comes at a good time to push the sport forward.
"It's football for females, it's flag, it's a little bit of contact like basketball," said Milligan head coach Ryan Witten.
After four years and the seasons, The Milligan Buffs flag football team finally got to play a home game.
It's really great, you got to feel a little bit prideful because we had a big crowd coming to watch us" said wide receiver Abbylin LaPrise.
Adds Witten,"When you go out and recruit, you want them to see what every day. This is where I live it's home to me."
The emergence of flag football comes at a time when women's sports are at an all-time high and this team is hoping that they can attract new fans to Elizabethton to watch this team grow.
"It's the number one growing sport in America, you know it's worldwide. There's athletes playing everywhere," said Witten.
It makes LaPrise want to be a role model for future players.
"It makes me want to be better, it makes us want to be better. We want people to see us play so they want to play and be like us," she said.
And even though Saturday's game was a 20-7 loss to Reinhardt, the program already has seven wins this season. That comes after winning just once in each of the previous two seasons.
"We just keep growing every day, every day we learn something new," said LaPrise. "We're always getting stronger together, making more plays."
Witten says all this team needs is time to grow.
"The only thing we lack is experience," he said. "You just need to get that experience, we're learning every day."
Milligan has two games left on the year, both next Saturday at Citizen's Bank Stadium in Elizabethton. The Buffs will play Campbellsville at 3 pm and NC Central at 5 pm.