It was an evening of incredible finishes as cadets competed in five sports of the Company Athletics Fall Brigade Finals on November 5 at the Arvin Cadet Physical Development Center and Daly Field. Cadets vied for company-level titles in functional fitness, flag football, soccer, basketball, and grappling.
Flag football was the final event of the Brigades as Company A-1 faced Company B-3 for the championship under the lights at Daly Field. The game was knotted at 14-14 when Co. B-3 scored the go-ahead touchdown with less than three minutes remaining. Company A-1 made a mad dash down the field to try to tie the game before the end of regulation, but the Bandits produced the game-ending interception at the 10-yard line with less than 30 seconds remaining to win the game. The Bandit company cadets stormed the field when the clock hit zero to celebrate their 21-14 victory.
Basketball was played indoors in Arvin between Company A-2 and Company A-3. Company A-3 started off strong and led at the half by three points. However, as the game came down to the final seconds, Co. A-2 had the ball in their hands for the final shot down by one point. CDT Nick Brown ’25, who competed with Army West Point Track and Field in previous years, took the final shot at the buzzer and after the ball bounced on the rim for a couple of seconds, it dropped in for the 35-34 win. The coach of the A-2 squad, CDT Logan Barley ’25, said it was a dream to earn the U.S. Corps of Cadets Slug Diamond, which is a patch given to the winning company athletics championship team for their jacket. As for the on-court hero, Brown mentioned that he didn’t know how to react because the ball bounced around “for three seconds” along the rim before it went into the hoop.
“I was just stunned,” Brown explained. “But, if anything, I want to say that my teammates have been some of the most positive, some of the most competitive and encouraging people I’ve met at the academy … I love this team.”
In Soccer, Company H-1 competed against Company H-4, and Co. H-4 came away with a 3-0 shutout victory. The team’s head coach, CDT Zakary Sury ’26, said the group was extraordinary.
“We’re so blessed to have such an incredible company,” Sury stated. “All these guys completely bought in and completely loved playing together. We built great camaraderie and great communication. At the end of the day, we had a goal in mind, and we went out and achieved that goal.” Sury complimented Co. H-1 for a hard-fought game, but said his squad stuck to its game plan and it worked to perfection.
Company A-4 took on Company G-1 for the functional fitness title on the Daly Field grass, and Co. A-4 took home the championship.
Lastly, there were several individual titles in different weight classes fought for in grappling. The brigade grappling title winners were CDTs Ava Purifoy ’25 (Co. H-2, female, less than 135 pounds), Miruna Duracu ’25 (Co. A-1, female, more than 135 pounds), Garylane Black ’28 (Co. I-1, male, less than 150 pounds), Ian Abdallah ’28 (Co. H-1, male, 150-160 pounds), James Benne ’28 (Co. H-3, male, 161-170 pounds), Jack Pacheco ’26 (Co. E-2, male, 171-180 pounds), Daniel Orfao ’26 (Co. G-2, male, 181-190 pounds), Dennis Kukharev ’25 (Co. A-2, male, 191-205 pounds) and Zach Duessler ’27 (Co. B-2, male, more than 205 pounds).
Excerpt and image taken from https://www.westpoint.edu.
