The Women’s National Football Conference comes to The Star at Frisco for a weekend full of action culminating in the biggest game in women’s tackle football — the IX Cup Championship. Events celebrating women in sports will begin on Friday and run throughout the weekend before the Texas Elite Spartans take on the Utah Falconz on June 26.
The Texas Elite Spartans will seek their third consecutive victory in the IX Cup. The game will be a rematch of the 2019 IX Cup Championship game the Elite Spartans won over Utah in the league’s inaugural season. The Elite Spartans defeated the San Diego Rebellion in last year’s IX Cup Championship. The WNFC did not play the 2020 season due to COVID-19.
The Elite Spartans finished 2022 with an undefeated record, the third season in which the team has not lost a game. The Elite Spartans are the league’s leading passing and scoring offense, led by quarterback Brittany Bushman and a receivers group that accounts for four of the top-10 players in the league.
The Elite Spartans scored a total of 215 points against 49 points surrendered over the course of six games in 2022. The Elite Spartans have built their success this season leaning on the passing game. Bushman led the league in 2022 with 1,081 yards passing and 17 touchdowns. She completed 68 passes and threw only three interceptions while finishing the regular season with a 116 QB rating.
Texas defeated the Kansas City Glory in the first round of the playoffs before facing off against the Atlanta Phoenix in the Atlantic League Championship. A 30-10 victory sent the Elite Spartans to their third IX Cup game.
The Utah Falconz entered the 2022 Playoffs as a long-shot Wild Card team with a season record of 3-3. They faced off against San Diego Rebellion, a team that had gone undefeated all season. Utah shut down the league’s second-best offense and leaned on a dominant running game to get the 23-15 win. The team then faced the Denver Bandits, who were also undefeated during the regular season. A 20-14 victory propelled the Falconz to the IX Cup Championship for the second time in team history.
Utah had the league’s top rushing offense and second-highest yards, following behind the Elite Spartans. The team is led by running backs Gina Magana and Maya Jamison. The two rushers combined have more yards on the ground this season than the entire Texas offense.
The IX Cup Weekend kicks off on Friday evening with an elegant Girls Ball. This first annual event will celebrate the 50th anniversary of Title IX, the landmark amendment that prevents discrimination in education based on gender. The evening features food and entertainment in celebration of women in sports and the work of the 501c3 organization Got Her Back.
The 2022 WNFC Fan Fest event will be held on Saturday, offering fans an opportunity to meet players and participate in a wide variety of events hosted by Dick’s Sporting Goods, the newest sponsor of the WNFC, along with a number of other sponsors that include Adidas and Riddell.
Sunday will begin with the Varsity Girls Flag-Football All-Star game, featuring the best women’s flag players in the country. Then, the WNFC All-Pro game will kick off before the main event begins at 6 p.m. Central. Vyre Network will carry the game live and free of charge online.
