User:Murphanian777/The Warehouse

The 1976 season
The 1976 interhall football season was the 86th year of interhall football at the University of Notre Dame and the 54th of the modern era.

Men
The 1976 men's interhall tackle football season was overseen by Dominic Napolitano (in his forty-ninth season with the league) and began on September 22 with fifteen teams.

Interhall championship
The 1976 interhall football championship game was played at night on Cartier Field between Keenan Hall and the Off-Campus team. Keenan entered as the North Quad champion with a 6–1–1 record, while the Off-Campus team won the South Quad and held at least a 6–1 record. To reach the championship, Keenan was forced to play Grace in a division tiebreaker, escaping 3–0 in the closing minutes of the game. Keenan was the defending champion as well, having defeated Pangborn 22–0 in 1975.

Keenan posted another dominating title game performance with a scathing defense that caught five interceptions, sacked Off-Campus quarterback Bill Sahm eight times, and held their opponents to negative seven net yards on the ground. Sahm also completed just one of eleven passes, with an astounding half of remaining throws being interceptions. Off-Campus never crossed mid-field during the game, further proving Keenan's dominance. The 22–0 score was identical to their win over Pangborn for the previous title.

Frank Hopke got on the scoreboard early in the first quarter by intercepting Sahm's pass and returning it to the 1-yard line. Keenan Quarterback Bob Bracale scored on the very next play, with Ed Dainko kicking a successful PAT. Hopke and Mark Mulligan ran over the Off-Campus defense in the second quarter, with the latter eventually scoring from the 1-yard line. Hopke rushed in for the two point conversion to put Keenan up 15–0. The first half ended with two more interceptions of Sahm (on back-to-back possessions no less) and solid defensive work on both sides. Keenan controlled the second half as much as the first, eating up twenty of thirty total plays by both squads. Sahm was intercepted again early in the fourth quarter by defensive back Pat Concannon, who completed a pick-six. The final PAT by Ed Dainko was good, allowing Keenan to cruise to their second consecutive IFL championship.

Women
The 1976 women's flag football season began on September 22 with six teams. The tournament was played with an imperfect round-robin style that involved each team playing each other at least once, and two teams being played twice.

Interhall championship
The 1976 women's interhall championship was played on October 31 between Badin and Lewis Halls. Badin entered with a 4–5 record, defeating Breen-Phillips in a preliminary playoff for the No. 4 spot in the semi-finals and a victory over No. 2 Lyons. Lewis entered with a 7–1 record after defeating No. 3 Walsh in a gripping semi-final and was favored to reach their eighth win (an interhall first) in the championship. Badin and Lewis had previously played twice during the regular season, with Lewis winning both by the scores of 18–0 and 16–6.

Badin pulled off one of the greatest upsets in interhall history and fulfilled the cinderella story that had been built in their last two games by defeating the Lewisites 8–6.

Lewis scored on their first possession of the game with a 53-yard run by Sue Behnke, though the extra point was no good. Badin appeared to be in trouble when a bobbled punt return left the ball at their own 7-yard line, but the girls managed to string together a few first downs before Diane Halliwell brought the ball to Lewis' red zone on a 60-yard run. Julie Walters ran in on the next play to tie the game. The ever important extra point was taken by Walters through the middle, and the attempt was good. The Badin defense was given much of the credit for their victory, keeping Lewis scoreless through the second half en route to an improbable victory.

An Tostal football
During the spring activities week, a time known as An Tostal, a women's exhibition championship game was played between Badin Hall, the reigning IFL champion, and the girls of Regina Hall, champions at St. Mary's College. The title game was played Saturday, April 23 on Cartier Field. After a contested first half and a defensive second, Badin Hall was victorious by the score of 13 to 6.

All-Star teams
The second annual all-star teams were released by the Hall President's Council on April 14th, with certificates awarded to all chosen athletes. The North and South Quad squads purportedly played an all-star game around the fall season, although exact details are unknown.