It came down to a third match, but Alpha Delta Pi overpowered Molly’s for the women’s tugs championship Saturday at the Pi Kappa Alpha house.

Under cloudy skies, the two teams battled for the title as friends and family cheered. The tuggers came out to the trenches with tough-looking faces and tape wrapped around their arms to help grip the thick rope.

“I’m extremely proud of them,” said Ann Lishamer, house mom for A Dee Pi. “They’re very dedicated and very disciplined. These feminine women come out here as brutes.”

Fans waved signs and screamed words of encouragement during the matches. Tension showed between fans of the A Dee Pis and the non-Greek Molly’s team, which was made of women from Molly’s Eatery and Drinkery, 1022 W. Lincoln Highway.

A fan of the Molly’s team held a sign that read, “Your boyfriends pay our bills.”

“It hasn’t got as vulgar as men’s tugs, but it will,” said Alpha Phi member Janice Galon, a junior accountancy major.

Parents came out to watch their daughters tug. Sandi Hunn, mother of Connie Hunn, a junior nursing major and member of A Dee Pi, was proud of her daughter, she said

“When Connie told me about tugs, she said, ‘I can’t explain it, you have to see it,’” Sandi Hunn said. “I see how hard they’ve worked.”

A Dee Pi won the first match after the 10 minutes of allotted time, but Molly’s came back and won round two. With strenuous looks on their faces, the women on both sides looked determined to win.

“The girls put in a lot of hard work, and it shows,” said Erin Vincent, a junior math education major and member of Sigma Lambda Sigma.

In order to win the third match, one team had to “take the knot” (pull the entire rope from the other team). There was no time limit. By leaning all the way back into the trenches, A Dee Pi tried not to give any rope to Molly’s, as Molly’s “hung” to try and keep the rope on their side. Teammates yelled encouragement and trainers gave pointers during the just over 40-mile third match.

“If you ever thought you did the toughest sport in your life, it can’t possibly compare to tugs,” said trainer Brent Renken, a junior corporate communication major and assistant advertising manager at the Northern Star. “If you fall, the entire team goes down with you.”

Molly’s anchor Debi Quigle, a sophomore business administration major, believed Molly’s did well for a first-year team.

“The Pikes invited us to come and tug and we dedicated ourselves to it,” Quigle said. “It’s been a learning experience.”

The turning point of the third match came when the two teams began to teeter-totter, and the A Dee Pis popped Molly’s out of the trench. The final tugs came from the A Dee Pis as they took the entire rope from Molly’s to claim the first-place trophy.

“We worked so hard for this and we deserved it,” said A Dee Pi member Marisa Silva, a junior OMIS major. “This championship is for all of Greek Row.”