The lights stayed on and the parking lot was full at the Bergstrom Indoor Facility past the acceptable time for ISU coach Paul Rhoads to keep his players running.

But if there’s a place this Veishea week that involves scores of college-aged guys in cutoffs that doesn’t involve massive amounts of alcohol, it’s the flag football tournament that’s an annual part of the weekly festivities. A typical seven-versus-seven game with those classic intramural red and yellow jerseys, males signed up for this competitive tournament for a chance at Veishea immortality — and a T-shirt.

Beginning Monday night, 18 games kicked off the slate and turned into the winners and losers brackets of Tuesday’s 17-game schedule.

“We’ve done it the last two years, and it’s more competitive than intramurals,” said Blaine Webb, junior in management information systems. “We’re pretty decent. We’ve got college football players on our team too, that played for D-III colleges. It’s a lot of fun.”

While intramural tournaments can last weeks and attempt to separate talent levels with divisions and fairness, this is one flag football tournament that casual runners and Tuesday-evening drinkers should likely avoid. Most players wore gloves and cleats to turn the field-turf surface into a sidewalk footrace, and with substitutes present on the sidelines, the games haven’t looked any less intense than certain Saturdays in the fall.

With no talent separation and the potential for up to four games on Tuesday night for winning teams, it’s a grueling event involving some pretty good players making highlight reel plays that no cameras can capture.

Most students don’t get the opportunity to play or even practice inside of the building that sits just west of Jack Trice Stadium. Even if some teams don’t perform during crunch time, they’ll get a good game in a great location on a maintained surface.

“It’s awesome in here, definitely better than playing outside,” said Michael Kirkus, junior in logistics and supply chain management, after his first game on Tuesday night. 

Wednesday’s championship round will culminate with a pair of semifinal match-ups and a title game, and is open to the public, just like any other Veishea event. Not everyone on the field can run like a scholarship Cyclone defensive back, but there’s a place good football this week, and it isn’t just the Iowa State Spring Game on Saturday.

Check iowastatedaily.net for more coverage Wednesday.