Chaos women’s football team excited to be back
Thursday, May 11, 2023
By Jarrod Ulrey
julrey@cbussports.com
Columbus Chaos’ Christina Davis (left) looks for running room during the team’s game with visiting St. Louis on May 6. Photo: John Hulkenberg
With the weather still hovering in the 40s and the parking lot filled with student-athletes competing in various spring sports, a large group of women began warming up on a grass area outside the football stadium May 3 at Whitehall-Yearling.
Their coach, Keith Thomas, still was on his way, but his commitment to driving more than three hours one way multiple times every week provides an example of the dedication involved with being a part of the Columbus Chaos women’s semi-professional football team.
The players, along with co-owners Chelsea Johnson and Staci Alkula, have had to make sacrifices along the way as well, but they believe it’s been well worth it.
There has been women’s football in some form in Columbus nearly every year beginning in 2003, with the Chaos in the midst of their second season.
“With these women, and some of them are pushing 50, they always wanted to play in high school, so you see really great effort,” Thomas said. “When you see two really good teams and a lot of talent, the competition is through the roof. We’ve just got to keep working and keep getting people attracted to us, and we’ll get better. … It’s an amazing game, an amazing event, and I’ve been doing this for 13 years.”
The Chaos are 2-1 overall and ranked first of 11 teams in Division II of the Women’s Football Alliance (WFA).
The team is a mixture of returning players like Kate McEachern, who originally is from Michigan but moved to central Ohio prior to last season and serves as tight end, kicker and punter, and newcomer Julie Day, who is a 2005 Pickerington North graduate starting two-way lineman with some past experience in the sport.
“We have quite a good selection of rookies,” Day said. “I played back in the day a little bit, so when I saw an opportunity to get back into the cleats and helmet, I wanted to take it. (McEachern) is one of our captains and they’ve been amazing in keeping the pace and the camaraderie up, making sure we’re family. Families fight sometimes, but we come back together at the end.
“You’ve got people who are brand new to the sport who have never come out before who are making a huge impact. I know a lot of our coaches have experience at the high school level and some who have played semi-pro football.”
Columbus Chaos’ Cassie Taylor (right) brings down St. Louis’ Jada Humphrey during the team’s game with the visiting Slams on May 6. Photo: John Hulkenberg
The history of women’s football in Columbus goes back several decades, with the Pacesetters competing from 1974-88 in the National Women’s Football League (NWFL).
The Columbus Flames went 6-3 in their inaugural season in the National Women’s Football Association (NWFA) in 2003.
Columbus’ women’s team from 2003-2020 was known as the Columbus Comets, who competed in the NWFA from 2004-08 before joining the WFA in 2009.
In 2010, the Comets lost in the championship game of the WFA playoffs and went 11-1.
The team was planning to compete in 2020 but halted its season because of the COVID-19 pandemic and did not return in 2021.
Two former members of the 2010 team, Staci Alkula, a long snapper and offensive lineman, and Chelsea Johnson, also an offensive lineman, teamed up to organize the Chaos.
“When the Comets folded, (Johnson) and I talked and she was like, ‘Do you want to come out and try to own this team with me?” Alkula said. “I’m in my 50s, so I grew up in a time when you didn’t go out for the boys team and if you did, you’d get harassed, hazed and told you couldn’t play. Parents weren’t all that excited about letting their girls play football with the boys, but I’ve always loved playing football. When I found out about (the semi-pro women’s league), I had to try it. It was on my bucket list and I played 10 years altogether.”
The Chaos began last season with more than 40 players but closed the year with about 25 as they finished 1-5 in the regular season and lost in the first round of the playoffs.
They held tryouts last October and began training in January at an indoor facility which cost several thousand dollars to rent throughout the offseason.
Although the Chaos have sponsors, players pay fees to help cover the cost of equipment and to rent the football stadium at Whitehall for games.
After opening with a 6-0 win April 22 at the Detroit Venom and then winning 14-0 on April 29 at the Grand Rapids Tidal Wave, Columbus lost 42-0 to the St. Louis Slam on May 6 in its home opener before a crowd of a few hundred fans.
Thomas was a coach for the Detroit Dark Angels for 11 seasons, including five as head coach, and he still lives in Detroit but makes the trip to Columbus multiple times per week to be with the Chaos.
Formerly a player at Eastern Michigan, Thomas compared the Chaos’ matchup against St. Louis – which competes in Division I of the WFA – like when a Mid-American Conference team competes against a Power 5 program in men’s college football.
“They’ve got a lot of experience and I’ve got a lot of rookies,” Thomas said. “We did the best we could. I had given up no points all season until (the loss to the Slam).”
Columbus Chaos’ DeAsha Talley returns a kickoff during the team’s game with visiting St. Louis on May 6. Photo: John Hulkenberg
The Chaos are halfway through a six-game regular-season, with their next home game set for 6 p.m. May 20 at Whitehall against the Baltimore Nighthawks.
They then travel June 3 to Louisville, Kentucky, to face the Derby City Dynamite and before closing the regular season June 10 at home against the Capital City Savages.
Tickets cost $15.
“We (weren’t) scored on (in our first two games),” said McEachern, who grew up playing soccer, volleyball, basketball and lacrosse. “Things have been going great considering we already have more wins than we did last year.
“I’m from Michigan and originally was going to play for Detroit when I lived up there, but I ended up moving to Columbus and I wanted to find a team so I looked them up last year. I think our chemistry is 10 times better than it was last year, and this year the veterans are more inclusive with the rookies. I’ve been in sports my whole life and if you don’t have good team chemistry, you aren’t going to go far.”
Alyssa Opatt, a 2019 Jonathan Alder graduate who played soccer for the Pioneers, is one of the team’s quarterbacks along with Franklin Heights graduate Carrie Loar and London graduate Amanda Ward.
Shayan Brown, a Grove City graduate who is at running back and linebacker, and DeAsha Talley, who is a Reynoldsburg native and plays at wide receiver, also are key players on offense.
Linebacker Jeanean Church, a Cincinnati Schroeder graduate, leads the defense.
There are three rounds of playoffs, with the league championship game slated for late July at Tom Benson Hall of Fame Stadium in Canton.
“The history here is about 20 years deep starting with the Pacesetters, which were the first women’s full-tackle team,” Johnson said. “It’s really cool how rich of a history women’s football has. They don’t have the same pedigree or the same introduction to the sport as men do, but watch how they play.”