Ohio State played host to the 2005 National Intramural-Recreational Sports Association Flag Football Regional Championship presented by POWERade Friday through Sunday.

“Ohio State has hosted it for the last 15 years,” tournament director Corinne Taylor said.

The tournament field featured 16 men’s teams, including three teams from OSU. Bowling Green State’s four teams were the most of any school.

“In the past we have had co-rec and women’s teams, but only men signed up this year,” tournament director B.J. Belville said.

The games were played at the Lincoln Tower Turf Field and Fred Beekman Park, using standard NIRSA flag football rules.

The BG Dirty Birds from BGSU won the tournament, defeating Phi Delta Theta from the University of Kentucky.

By placing in the top two, both teams qualified for the NIRSA National Championships in Pensacola, Fla.

“We pay their registration and a stipend to play in the national tournament,” Taylor said.

The tournament began with round-robin play Friday. The teams were placed in four three-team divisions and one four-team division.

No teams were eliminated after round-robin play because of a lack of teams. The round-robin results were used instead to determine seeding in the single-game elimination tournament.

Teams employed a variety of offenses, ranging from the triple option to passing every play.

The Friends of Jesus from Bowling Green ran the spread offense. The team’s signature play was a shovel pass called “Moses.”

“We run the Urban Meyer offense,” team captain Dave Scott said. “He came from BG you know.”

JTTF from OSU made their first appearance in the NIRSA Flag Football Regional. The team went 0-2 in round-robin play including a loss to the Pure Playaz from the University of North Carolina-Charlotte.

“We played them hard and tough,” Justin Costa said. “It was close for the first two minutes.”

The All-Tournament committee headed by Charlie Burk of the University of Kentucky named seven players to the All-Tournament team.

Brian White and Theodore Al Sauder from the champion BG Dirty Birds were both named to the team. White was named the tournament’s most valuable player.

Scott McInosh and Brian Inman from runner-up Phi Delta Theta were also named to the All-Tournament team.

Rounding out the All-Tournament team were Derek Manville and Brian Brehm from Wright State and Anthony Shelton of UNC-Charlotte.

A committee designed to evaluate officials headed by Stephen Byrd of Western Kentucky University gave four officials bids to officiate in the national tournament.

Mike Collins of WKU, Tommy Segi of Georgia Southern and Jean Cornwell and Kyle Smith from Virginia Tech received the bids.