A team with abundant talent can be difficult to compete with. But a team with abundant talent combined with a strong will to win can be nearly insurmountable.

The members of the Jo Mammas proved this last night as they downed Beta Theta Pi 28-14 in the intramural four-on-four arena football finals held at in the Multi-Sports Complex.

The teammates' will to win was so strong that they were able to overcome the removal from the game of their quarterback and captain, senior David Hilderbrand, due to a knee injury sustained midway through the second half. Fortunately for the Jo Mammas, the injury came after they had established control of the Astroturf and jumped out to a commanding lead.

Its athletic talent on the field established this lead for the Jo Mammas. David Hilderbrand combined with his brother, freshman Brian Hilderbrand, as well as seniors Justin Cope and Ben Matta, to dominate the game.

"We knew what we had, we knew we were stronger in areas than other teams," David Hilderbrand said. "We tried to exploit the other teams' weaknesses and we tried to mix it up from receiver to receiver."

The Jo Mammas' early lead, along with the dwindling time on the clock, proved to be enough to prevent its reduced three-member squad from falling to the five-member Beta Theta Pi team. "There were only six minutes left [after the injury]," Matta said. "We knew we had to score once and stop them once and the game was over."

The players of the Jo Mammas did exactly that, as they scored the next time they gained the ball and stopped Beta Theta Pi on its next two possessions to clinch the victory.

The four members of the Jo Mammas are familiar with victory, as they were also part of championship intramural outdoor flag-football and softball squads earlier this year. But due to the popularity of the arena football competition, this victory was especially sweet for the Jo Mammas.

"Football is our most popular sport," intramural student supervisor John Rosick said.

"We're limited by the week-long tournament length."

According to Assistant Recreational Sports Director Mark Belden, the thirty-two slots for the tournament filled by 10:15 a.m. the same morning that signups opened.

Despite the high demand for tournament slots, none of the teams that the Jo Mammas faced in the playoff rounds were able to compete at the level of play of its members. The Jo Mammas were able to cruise to their berth in the championship game with easy back-to-back 35-14 victories over Zeta Psi and the Barbarian Horde.

As the Jo Mammas left the field with the championship, they inquired as to the status of their injured captain. But it was clear that even with their drop in talent due to the loss of their key player, the players had never expected anything other than victory. After all, they had willed it so.