TAMPA, Fla. - Its Sunday afternoon at the Yuengling Center on the USF campus.

It’s the gold medal match of the final event at the Warrior Games – Sitting Volleyball.

Navy and Air Force know this game all too well. They are the only two teams to have won the event since it was added to the Warrior Games in 2016. Navy enters as the two-time defending champ with almost no flaws to its game. 

“They just don’t make mistakes,” said Captain Alex Wilson of Team Army. “ What you have to do it just continue to get it in and just try to get it passed them because they really don’t make too many mistakes.”

In the opening set of this best of three match, Navy looked every bit the part of a two-time champion with a 25-14 win. 

“Our main goal was to get our three hit and I said just feed me, feed me,” said Navy Petty Officer 2nd class Joshua Laban. 

“First set went well. Once we decided not to worry about positioning it and just get in play and just play our game,” said Navy Petty Officer 1st class Tyson Schmidt. 

The second set, though, Air Force flipped the script on Navy, winning 25-22.

“They started picking apart our defense, finding a lot of holes, pushing a lot of balls back and we weren’t transitioning fast enough,” Schmidt said. 

It would all come down one set. First to 15, win by two.

This set had a number of lead changes with each side going all out to take home the gold medal. The drama rose to new heights when a critical point would be reversed at 11 all. Giving the point to Navy and swinging momentum in their favor.

“We just let the refs make the decision,” said Laban. "Whatever outcomes comes we are just going to play it and we did.”

“Reset, let’s play our game, ignore the refs, and ignore the call,” said Schmidt. "Whatever the call is, we are winning this set.”

Navy pushed through, and refused to let Air Force regroup.At 14-12, match point…the arena was on edge with every hit of the ball. And then…it happened.

Mission three-peat was a success.

“The crowd was loud, the families were loud, it was awesome,” said Laban wearing the gold medal around his neck. 

“I ended up running around the court on one leg, so, it was amazing,” said Schmidt with a tear in his eye. 

 And for Schmidt, who was one of Navy’s leaders, it was a bittersweet goodbye to the sport that helped bring him back from his injuries.

“It’s my last year, I did two years, now it’d time to step down and let someone else come in. So it was definitely a good way to go out,” said Schmidt, who wears an American flag bandana around his head while playing sitting volleyball. 

Navy’s three-peat may not rival other sports dynasties. But it will live on at the Warrior Games. It’s the only sporting event where heroes can become legends in the face of true adversity.