They’re coming from Virginia.

They’re coming from across the Carolinas.

They’re even coming from Florida and Connecticut.

The 12th ACIC UNCW Regional Flag Football Championships are scheduled to kick off Nov. 14 on the UNCW Intramural Field Complex.

The event spans the weekend and features 69 flag football teams from across the upper South and a few other places for championships in three categories: men’s, women’s and co-rec.

The champions advance to the national championship in New Orleans on the weekend after Christmas.

“For your first time in, it’s pretty amazing,” said Corey Swinson, of UNCW men’s champions Bad Boys. “A lot of people think flag football is something you do in your spare time. It’s a sport … there’s a national league and conference and most people don’t understand that.”

The teams will start out in divisions of three and will play a round-robin. The top two squads will enter the single-elimination stage of the tournament, which will culminate in the championship games Nov. 16 at 1:30 p.m.

To help run the event, Tim McNeilly, Associate Director of Campus Recreation/Intramurals, is bringing in help.

“Staff from other institutions will work with our staff to pick officials, All-Tournament selections. We pick so many in each division as Most Valuable Players.”

McNeilly suggested UNCW’s Plundering Pirates, last year’s Co-Rec Division winners, along with men’s squad Belcher Boys (Liberty University) and Simply Marvelous (Florida A&M) as teams to watch.

Campus men’s champions Bad Boys hopes to be another team worthy of talk during the weekend. The squad is on a roll, topping a tough Outkast squad, and has home-field advantage.

“As of right now, I’m pretty confident we’ll be in the (second round),” Swinson said. “If we play the way we played in the campus tournament, we’ll be in the finals.”