Intramural flag football playoffs start next week, and teams are competing to make the draw for the postseason.Some flag football teams have been together for many years, but co-rec team Ralph has overcome its inexperience and enters the playoffs with a 3-1 record.  Teams need a .500 winning percentage or better and a minimum 2.0 sportsmanship rating to play for the campus championship in a single elimination playoff tournament, according to University Recreation. Alex Courville, biology junior and UREC referee, said teams play two halves with a running clock with the last two minutes played with normal football clock rules. He said the popularity of flag football has grown during the past few years.”When I first got here there were 80 teams, and this year there are over 130 teams,” Courville said. “Everyone just loves football here.”Jack Tourres, mechanical engineering senior, is Ralph’s team captain. He said the team doesn’t have flashy players but instead works together to have great success for their first season.Tourres said the team has 12 members that are coworkers and basically “randoms off the street.”Amanda Rae Mason, agriculture business sophomore, said team Ralph has been together for just four weeks.”It was really a pick-up game, and I met these guys through my roommate,” Mason said.Tourres said he taught two women to play football on the day of their first game. He said he thought the team would get destroyed in the season opener.”The first game was our worst game, and we won by 27 points,” Tourres said.Tourres said the team as a whole is the MVP, and they work well together — considering it’s their first season playing.  “I’m very competitive, but the team is more about having fun,” Tourres said.  Bass said the co-rec league is more laid back and has a different atmosphere than the normal league.Tourres said the team’s strategy is to throw the ball to a female. A co-rec league rule states teams must alternate catches between men and women. He said teams won’t cover females as much as men, so it’s easier to get the ball to them.  Mason said the team practices at least once a week.The team warms up 15 to 30 minutes before the game and makes sure to practice some throws and catches to prepare, Mason said.”Practice, practice, practice and communication are our strategies when we play,” Mason said.Ralph players also said they try to hang out and build chemistry with each other off the field.Mason said she is looking forward to the playoffs next week.Playoff brackets will be posted on the University Recreation Web site at the end of the regular season this week. —-Contact Tiffany Tucker at [email protected]