Intramural sports have been a big part of the student experience here at Bob Jones University for several decades.
Of all the intramural sports played between the societies, none is bigger than men’s 11v11 soccer.
Every fall, each men’s 11v11 soccer team competes in a playoff hoping for a spot in the annual 11v11 championship—the Turkey Bowl.
The Turkey Bowl got its name because the game used to be played on Thanksgiving Day before BJU had started having Thanksgiving Break.
The Turkey Bowl is now played the week before Thanksgiving and is one of BJU’s biggest annual events.
The Turkey Bowl attracts hundreds of students and visitors who come to watch the game and its halftime show.
With the semifinals having just wrapped up, the Alpha Theta Pi Razorbacks and the Beta Gamma Delta Patriots, who both played in last year’s Turkey Bowl, are set for a rematch in this year’s Turkey Bowl.
The Razorbacks are currently the top team overall in 11v11 soccer, winning 10 games and drawing two games to the Patriots and the Epsilon Zeta Chi Tornadoes.
“The regular season went very well for us,” said Razorbacks athletic director Jadan Kashi. “Our chemistry as a team increased as our season went along.”
The Razorbacks defeated the Phi Kappa Pi Rams 3-0 in the quarterfinals of the playoff and played the Sigma Alpha Chi Spartans in the semifinals.
Before their game against the Spartans, Kashi said that Sigma is a very good team that played well on both sides of the ball and that the Razorbacks needed to be on their best game in order to beat them.
Kashi said that players McKinley Brown and Israel Thang have been impact players for the Razorbacks.
“McKinley has done a solid job anchoring our back line of defense. He’s a great leader both vocally and by his actions,” Kashi said.
Kashi said that Thang has been a source of energy coming off the bench and that Thang gives the Razorbacks that much-needed boost of energy the team needs each half.
Kashi said the keys for the Razorbacks in the Turkey Bowl will be ball movement and controlling the field.
The Patriots finished with a regular season record of 7-2-2, coming in second only to the Razorbacks.
The Patriots’ regular season started out with two back-to-back losses to the Spartans and the Nu Delta Chi Vikings, but since then the Patriots have won seven games and tied two.
In the quarterfinals, the Patriots defeated the Pi Gamma Delta Royals and played a well fought game that resulted in the Patriots winning on penalty kicks.
The Razorbacks and Patriots will now face off in a rematch of last year’s Turkey Bowl, which the Razorbacks won, at Alumni Stadium tomorrow at 7 p.m.