November, 2009

Baltimore Ravens NFL Regional Qualifier

The two 12-14 All-star teams finish third at regionals!!!

Last Saturday November 7th two teams from the North Shore traveled to Baltimore, MD to compete in the NFL FLAG regional qualifier with the hopes of advancing to the Nationals next January. Players and parents made the 10 hour drive from Peabody, MA to Preston, MD with teams made up of players from Revere, Peabody and Lynn. The 12-14 girls all-stars were hit with sickness days before departure leading to only 5 of the 8 girls making the trip while the boys took just 7 players to compete in the one day tournament.

The tournament had 33 teams enter in the 9-11 co-ed, 12-14 boys and 12-14 girls categories, there were teams from MD, MA, IA, NJ, NY, CT and OH. After a long day of competition the Big Blue from CT, the Cowboys of PA and the Cardinals of NJ all won their respective age divisions and an all expenses paid trip to Florida courtesy of the NFL for the National tournament of Champions.

At the start of the day the 12-14 girls all-stars played the Cardinals of NJ, both teams had trouble moving the ball and after time expired the game finished 0-0. In overtime the team that gains the most yards on one drive wins the game, if a team throws an interception the game is over!!! In overtime the Cardinals went first and the NSFFL all-stars held the Cardinals to just 7 yards. On the all-stars drive the girls gained just 5 yards and therefore ended up loosing the game by two yards!!!

In the second game the all-stars faced the Jets of MD and again did not give up a TD but at the same time the all-star girls could not get their offense going and again the game finished 0-0, this time around the all-stars went first but on the second play of the drive an interception was thrown and the girls lost another close game. In the final game of the round robin the girls played the YYFFA girls from OH and finally broke through as Taylor Dabney (Peabody) hit Aria Ross (Revere) for the score, the girls again did not give up a TD all game and finished winners 6-0. After all the round robin games were played the Cardinals and Jets advanced to the Championship game as the Cardinals finished 2-1 and the Jets finished 2-1 while the NSFFL All-stars finished 1-2 and the YYFFA girls finished 0-3.

The girls played amazing considering they had no substitutions and did not give up a TD all day. It could have gone either way but it was just not meant to be this time, however the good news is 7 out of the original 8 players can return for next years team!!!! MVP for the NSFFL all-star girls team was for the second year in a row Taylor Dabney of Peabody.

Coaches:
Austin Bradshaw
Alvin Ross, Revere

Roster:
Taylor Dabney, Peabody
Kayla Jackson, Peabody
Aria Ross, Revere
Kayla Santos, Peabody
Sydney Bessler, Lynn

There were 12 teams in the 12-14 boys division and the NSFFL Patriots were placed in group 2A. In the first game Gerald Kahari (Lynn) intercepted the first pass of the game to set up the Patriots go a head score by Carlos Ortiz (Peabody). The Patriots never looked back as they won the game against the SMYFF elite by 33-0. The second game was against the DAC Panthers of NY which proved to be a little tougher for the Patriots but with some great pressure from Jay Jarosz (Peabody) and some great throws by QB Chris Therrein (Peabody) the Patriots took the game 13-6. After a long break the Patriots played their final round robin game against Team XBucs of MD and shut down the Bucs with two interception returns for TD's by Nick Vitale (Peabody) and Johnny Thomas (Peabody) which lead to a half time victory 33-0.

The Patriots were seeded 2nd overall after only giving up 6 points and faced the North Penn Eagles of PA, in the game the pace was incredible as both teams exchanged scores one after another but a few mistakes on the Patriots defense in the second half cost the team as they lost the game 31-21 to the Eagles for a second year in a row. MVP for the boys was Gerald Kahari of Lynn with several interceptions, amazing catches and TD's.

Once again the NSFFL boys proved they can play with the best and with only 10 min running clock anything can happen. Unfortuntely every player on the team will be too old to compete in the 12-14 division next fall but the players, coaches and parents had a great experience over the weekend.

Coaches:
Austin Bradshaw
Shane Rigney, Peabody

Roster:
Chris Therrien, Peabody
Nick Vitale, Peabody
Gerlad Kahari, Lynn
Jay Jarosz, Peabody
Johnny Thomas, Peabody
Peter Matu, Peabody
Carlos Ortiz, Peabody

Next fall the league will be looking for a new set of all-stars in all age divisions (9-11, 12-14 boys, 12-14 girls) so keep practicing and keep playing and hopefully we will have some qualifiers in the New England area and be able to send some more teams!!!.