2011

Football Festival 2011


The 2011 Football festival was for the second year in a row a two day event featuring 61 teams in 4 age groups from MA, NH, RI, NY, NJ, PA, FL. There were 118 games of flag football played with the first day of games were all played at Endicott College in Beverly, MA where teams played 2 games and were seeded for the next day Harvard stadium playoffs Championships. For the first time since the football festival started the tournament format was changed to incorporate all levels and abilities of the teams. After the day 1 games teams were dived up by record into "A", "B" and in the 9-11 division "C" groups. The top teams from each group went ahead into the "Elite" playoffs/Championships while the next best teams headed into the "Championship" playoffs and finally as a result of 24 teams in the 9-11 group there was a "Challenge" division for the lower ranked teams.

In the 6-8 group 16 teams from across MA, NH and NY took part in the tournament and by the end of the 2 days not one team finished with a undefeated record showing a true testament to the level of play even at such a young age. At Endicott in the rain the Seacoast Seadogs (2-0) and Salem Witches (1-1) finished first and second respectively in group A, while in group B both the Albany Giants and Beverly Panthers finished 2-0. Group C, saw the NHFFL Hurricanes (2-0) and Lynn Bulldogs (1-0-1) advance to the Elite playoffs and finally the Peabody Patriots (2-0) and NHFFL Thunder (1-1) both finished 1st and 2nd in group D to advance to the top flight. Also in group A both the Saugus Sachems and Peabody Raiders finished (0-1-1) sending them into the "Championship" playoffs along with group B's Lynn Rams (0-2) and Salem Patriots (0-2), group C's Danvers Falcons (0-1-1) and CNY Flag (0-2), finally in group D The Beverly Patriots (1-1) and Marblehead black tide (0-2) rounded out the Championship division.

On the second day of competition teams headed straight into single elimination playoffs, in the Championship division Saugus defeated CNY 22-14 and the Lynn Rams also picked up their first win by beating out Marblehead. The Peabody Raiders knocked out the Danvers Falcons and the Salem Patriots won in overtime against the the Beverly Patriots after a 0-0 game. In the Championship semi-finals the Lynn Rams improved to 2-2 after narrowly defeating the Saugus team 13-12 and the Peabody Raiders shut out the Salem Patriots 13-0. In the Championship game the Lynn Rams looked liked they found their rhythm as they defeated the Peabody Raiders 22-7 to win the Championship!!!

In the ELITE division with a combined record of 13-2-1 the top 8 teams were matched up for some tough competition. In the first round the Seacoast seadogs defeated the Lynn Bulldogs 24-14, the Beverly Panthers shut out the NHFFL Thunder 13-0, the Salem Witches shut out the NHFFL Hurricanes 6-0 and the Albany Giants narrowly defeated the Peabody Patriots 19-18. In the semi-finals the Beverly Panthers gave up only their second TD of the weekend as they lost out to the Seacoast Seadogs 7-0 and the Salem Witches beat out the Albany team 20-15. The "Elite" championship game was the last game of the weekend and after a great defensive game the Salem Witches beat out the Seacoast Seadogs 19-6 to take the title. The 6-8 division title once again returns to MA as every year the crown seems to go back and forth between MA and NH.

The ever popular and most competitive 9-11 division saw a record 24 teams from MA, RI, NH, PA, NJ, NY and FL compete for a championship. There were 4 groups of 6 teams and after the first day of action 7 out of 8 top teams advanced to the Elite division after finishing 2-0. The teams with the next best record were Beverly Panthers, CNY Flag 2, Seacoast Seadogs, NHFFL Tornadoes, Peabody Patriots and Beverly Patriots all finished 1-1 and the Danvers Falcons, Fall River, Lynn Bulldogs, Saugus Sachems and Salem Witches all finished 0-2 and headed into the "Challenge" playoffs. On day 2 at Harvard Stadium there were some very interesting games as the NHFFL Jaguars defeated the Albany Giants 6-0, the North Shore Eagles beat out the Lynn Bulldogs 37-20 and both the Salem Witches/Saugus Sachems beat out Fall river and the Danvers team to secure a place in the semi-finals. In the Challange semi-finals the NHFFL Jaguars lost out to the Salem Witches 20-14 while the North Shore Eagles defeated the Saugus team 36-18. The "Challenge" Championship game was between the Salem Witches and the North Shore Eagles, but it was the Eagles that showed their true spirit as they knocked of the Witches for a 46-14 win, and the "Challenge" trophies. In the Championship division, the Beverly Panthers were matched up against the local Beverly Patriots with the Panthers coming out on top 36-0 over the Patriots, the NK Patriots defeated the NHFFL Tornadoes 14-7, CNY Flag 2 beat out the lynn Chargers 18-0 and the Seacoast Seadogs took the Peabody Patriots 42-6. In the Semi-finals the Beverly Panthers shut out the NK Patriots 6-0 and the CNY Flag 2 narrowly defeated the he Seacoast Seadogs 8-6. In the "Championship" game in the "Championship" division the Beverly Panthers beat the CNY Flag 2 team 12-6 to take home the hardware. Finally in the top flight Elite division playoffs the Lynn Rams put away the NHFFL Falcons 28-6 while the Red Storm knocked out NP flag 16-10, the CNY flag 1 went into over time against the Peabody Tanners but advanced to the semi-finals after winning the game 25-19 in OT. The game of the day saw the defending Champions MO Steel score on the last play of the game to beat the NSFFL Patriots 6-0. In the semi-finals the Lynn Rams lost out to the Red Storm 37-22 and MO Steel advanced after beating the CNY Flag 1 team 35-6. The Elite Championship game was a exhibition as the Red Storm scored first on a returned INT, but MO Steel held strong and took home the title for a third year in a row after winning the game 20-6.

The 12-14 division had a record 14 teams take part which included all-star teams, local league teams and some travel teams. During the first round of games there were a lot of blowouts as teams form across New England faced each other for the first time and only 2 out of the first 14 games were decided by a TD or less. Heading into day 2 the Seacoast seadogs, LBFFA, Lynn Bengals and NP Flag Blue all remained undefeated. At Harvard 6 teams made it into the Championship division and int he first round MASCO knocked out the Peabody Patriots, the Lynn Rams defeated the NJ Rams and the NK Thunderbirds beat out the Salem Witches. With a 6 team bracket the Lynn Rams advanced to the Championship game while MASCO took another victory this time over the NK Thunderbird's. In a close Championship game MASCO came out on top 27-20 over the Lynn Rams to claim their prize. In the 12-14 Elite division the Seacoast Seadogs continued their winning ways with a victory over the CNY Flag 31-25, LBFFA took the Millis Hunger 35-6, the Lynn Bengals beat out the NP Flag white 34-8 and finally the NP FLAG blue knocked off the Red Storm 17-6. All 4 remaining teams had yet to loose but in the Elite semi-finals something had to give and the LBFFA beat the Seacoast seadogs 48-14 while the Lynn Benglas and NP Flag Blue game came down to the wire with the NP FLAG Blue team winning the game 26-24, setting up an all PA final. The Elite Championship was won by the LBFFA team as they defeated the NP Flag Blue 32-18.

The oldest 15-17 group saw some extremely talented football players going at it, with teams representing; MA, NH, PA, NY. The round robin games were the last of the day at Endicott and it was hard to tell which team was the stronger of the bunch. Both the Lynn Ravens and the Bronx Cowboys finished the day undefeated with the favorites LBFFA going 0-1-1. On the second day at Harvard the games were fast and furious with some big upsets as the NH Blitz beat the Seacoast Seadogs 13-6, the NP Flag beat the Peabody Patriots 43-20 and LBFFA knocked out the Bronx Cowboys 19-13. In the second round LBFFA defeated the #1 Ravens 33-2 and the NP Flag won a close game 30-25 over the NH Blitz. Again the Championship game was an all PA affair as the LBFFA shut out NP Flag 44-0 to take the Championship for a second year in a row.

As with every year the tournament continues to get bigger and better, with a record 61 teams from 7 states and everything from great competition, great venues and great staff the NSFFL Football festival is one of the premier youth flag football events in the country. Next year we are going to strive to gain an international interest and increase the number of teams in each age division. Also we will be continuing the very successful tournament format we followed this year giving teams as evenly matched competition as possible to ensure every team has a chance at winning a Championship. We hope everyone that attended had a great time and will be back again next year whether we are Gillette or Harvard stadium.

A huge thank you to all the staff that helped over the 2 days making everything run so smoothly.

See you next year,

Austin Bradshaw
NSFFL President