JOINT BASE SAN ANTONIO-LACKLAND, Texas –
About a week after the 59th Dental Group lost in "devastating" fashion in the Jintramural flag football finals here, the team turned around its fortunes and won the Joint Base San Antonio Intramural Flag Football title.
Quarterback Ricky Guajardo threw four touchdown passes to lead Dental to a 30-18 victory over the 359th Medical Group, from JBSA-Randolph, Nov. 19 at JBSA-Fort Sam Houston to claim its third JBSA-wide championship in four years.
The JBSA Intramural Flag Football Tournament featured the top two teams from JBSA-Lackland, JBSA-Randolph and JBSA-Fort Sam Houston's respective tournaments.
"After the loss (against the 688th Cyberspace Wing in the base finals Nov. 13), we were angry because we knew were the best team, and we let the game slip away from us," said Staff Sgt. Brett Manz, the NCO in charge of the 59th DG endonotics flight and one of the team's coaches. "To have an undefeated season then go on to lose the base championship was devastating. We shook it off going into the JBSA tournament, and there was no time to feel sorry for ourselves. We were confident but also humbled going into the tournament, and we were able to win."
Because of the high level of competition, Manz said Dental knew they weren't going to blow the other teams out, so they had to play their best game each time and be patient to win the championship.
"All three games were team wins," Manz said. "The ball was spread around on offense, and guys came up with big plays on offense and defense. I'm extremely proud of everyone on our team."