2009

NSFFL's Championship Series

Last Saturday November 28th saw the 3rd championship series held at the impressive Manning stadium in Lynn, MA.  In all, 25 teams competed in 4 age categories representing 8 different towns and cities from MA, NH and CT, the combined record of teams entering the tournament was 179-18-2.

In the 5-6 division Peabody and Beverly represented the NSFFL as thier respective champions. Salem had yet to finish the season therefore the Saints that had the best record in the division sent their 5-6 year olds to play. Peabody sent the NFC champion Cardinals and the AFC Champion/Superbowl winner Texans, however Lynn were a last minute scratch due to several illnesses on the team. Salisbury was the only out of area team to enter the 5-6 division and the young Dolphins represented Salisbury, MA well as they finished 2-2 on the day and lost only to the Peabody Texans, once during pool play and again in the Superbowl after forcing the Peabody Texans into overtime. Coaching the 5-6 division is the most challanging of all the age divisions and it was great to see the youngest members of NFL FLAG football running around and having fun, after overtime was played and the Championship game was won, one of the players asked his coach did we win? The coach replied yes we won.

In the 7-8 division, 6 out of the 8 teams entering the tournament were previously undefeated but after the round robin games only the Lynn Rams, Pelham Falcons and Pelham Seahawks perfect records remained intact. Each and every game was as close as the next one, 9 out of the 15 games played were decided by a TD or less and 2 games including the semi-final went into over time. In the end it was the Lynn Raiders who closed the book on the fall '09 season by finishing up 12-0 and winning the 7-8 division Championship series. If you ask any team from the 7-8 division in Salisbury, Peabody or Beverly how good their Champions are they will say "Awesome" but as can be seen in the Championship series, every team is awesome and sometimes it just takes a little bit extra to be crowned Champion of Champions.

In the competitve 9-11 division teams from Pelham, NH and New Canaan, CT made the trip to take part in the Championship series, which is the great thing about NFL FLAG as it doesnt matter which town, city, or even state you come from the game is still the same. The games get faster as the kids get older and the 9-11 division was non stop action all day, in fact out of all the undefeated teams that entered the tournament not one of them would leave undefeated. The Peabody Steelers that domiated the Peabody  9-11 division and won the Superbowl with a final record of 8-0 only notched one win by one point which was ironically over the Lynn Steelers that also dominated thier division and also finished 8-0 after winning their championship, also only won one game, in fact the competition was so tough that the Beverly Redskins that won their superbowl just a week ago did not win one game. After all the round robin and playoff games the two out of town teams (Salisbury & Pelham) faced off in the Championship and after putting up the most points in the tournament Salisbury could not find the endzone as they were on the wrong end of the third shut out of the tournament courtesy of the Pelham Patriots 26-0.

:Last year the 12-14 division only had 2 teams compete, however this year 4 teams competed in the Championship series from, Pelham, NH, Salisbury, MA and Peabody, MA. Peabody entered its AFC and NFC Champions to compete, both teams were undefeated heading into the Peabody Superbowl but the NFC Champion Giants took the game and the title and while the Patriots finished 7-1 they were still AFC Champions and wanted to be part of the Championship series. The first game for the 12-14 division saw the Salisbury Falcons take the Peabody Giants into overtime but after a circus catch by the Giants receiver the Peabody team won the game 32-26. On the other side the Patriots played the Patriots!!!but it was the Pelham Patritos that would win 20-2 over the Peabody Patriots.  After the Pelham Patriots went on to shut out the Giants 21-0 and the Falcons defeated the Peabody Patriots 21-19 all four teams entered the play-offs and as expected the seedings held which lead to a rematch for the Championship game. Under the lights the game was a defensive battle as the Peabody Giants and Pelham Patriots kept the score at 7-7 but with the clock running out the Giants managed to get into the endzone with seconds remaining to win the Champiionship.

Congratulations to all the teams that took part in the NSFFL Championship series. Every team that participated was a champion already no matter what the days results brought. Every game was played in great spirits and consistent with good sportsmanship and a positive attitude. Thank you to the teams that traveled to be a part of the Championship series. Since the Championship series started we have crowned "Champions of Champions" from Peabody, Beverly, Lynn and Pelham, every series gets bigger and better and every series we have new Champions from new towns. We hope to see you in the spring as we look for the next Champion of Champions!!!  Photos and video coming soon.

Austin Bradshaw

NSFFL President

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