Women’s football team Utah Falconz heads to national championship
Jun 15, 2022, 10:00 AM
Utah Falconz Shannon Richards-Gebbia celebrates the win over the Colorado Freeze in Murray on June 13, 2015. Photo credit: Jeffrey D. Allred/Deseret News.
SALT LAKE CITY — Another Utah football team is the talk of the town. After a big year from the Utes, Cougars, and Aggies, the Utah Falconz are now headed to a national championship.
The Falconz — the state’s semi-pro women’s tackle football team — will play Dallas in the Women’s National Football Conference IX Cup Championship Game on June 26.
The championship will be held at the Dallas Cowboys Headquarters, The Star in Frisco.
Who are the Utah Falconz?
The team has been around for eight years and has a record of 71-8. The Falconz have played in five national championships and has two championships from another league.
One of the players for the team, center Shannon Richards-Gebbia said many people, even in those in the neighborhood where the team practices, don’t even know who the team is.
“A lot don’t. Even the ones who walk by us at practice every day, they come and it’s like ‘are those women?'”
The team’s website describes the team as a place where athletes can learn “lifelong skills in leadership, hard work, and perseverance.”
The road to nationals
The team’s journey to the championship began with a No. 4 seed ranking.
Then the Falconz beat two undefeated teams during the playoffs. It beat No. 1 seed San Diego Rebellion and then beat No. 2 seed Denver Bandits.
Richards-Gebbia said it can happen again when the team travels to Frisco, Texas to face off against the Texas Elite Spartans.
“The Falconz have played the Spartans twice prior and they’ve lost, and I’m excited personally to get the chance to face them.”
Richards-Gebbia added that the more success the team gets, the more it needs fan support.
“We do everything through fundraising. The players pay a fee to come here… and then we have to come up with the rest of the money if and when we make the playoffs and championship.”
Right now the team is short on funds to make the trip to Texas so it has set up a GoFundMe page*.
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