August, 2009

Plymouth, MA Jamboree

As the summer beings to wind down and a new school year is in sight the NSFFL league decided to compete in one more flag football tournament before the NFL regional qualifiers begin this fall. The tournament held at the very nice indoor complex known as Jungle Plex located in Plymouth, MA was a great setting for a youth flag football tournament.

8 teams competed in three age divisions from MA and NH and the NSFFL league entered two teams into the 9-11 and 12-14 divisions.

In the 9-11 division the team was made up of 9 players from the North Shore, as can be seen in the team photo (from left to right top row Alex Gomes - Peabody, Wes Atkinson - Lynn, Mark Drillis - Lynn, Jonathan Merchado - Lynn, Tristan Bradley - Salem. Bottom row Derek Shaw - Lynn, Caesar Lopez - Lynn, Landon Pare - Peabody, Jake Gustin - Peabody, Coach Danny Batista - Peabody.

In the first game the NSFFL all-stars defeated the home town Plymouth Pride 14-6, before going on to beat the NH Patriots 41-14. In the final game of the round robin the All-stars went up against the tournament favorites NH Red Storm (last years Buffalo NFL regional champs) and after playing a hard fought game the All-stars came within one TD but lost the match 32-24. The All-stars received the #2 overall seed in the play-offs but came up short after disappointingly losing out to the home town Plymouth Pride team 33-24, which put them out of the tournament.

The 9-11 all-star team is still looking for elite players as they approach the NFL regionals and any players who are interested in a "Try-out" for the team by participating in practicies, scrimmages and tournaments should contact us through the web site.

In the 12-14 division for the second time in a row the tournament only had 2 teams therefore the NSFFL Patriots and NH Vipers had to play a best of 5 series to decide the tournanment champion, but before the 12-14 tournament began the NSFFL team was challanged by the younger 9-11 Red Storm of NH. The Red Storm played their game well but the older boys from the North Shore were too much for the young guns from NH as the Patriots calmed the storm 38-0.

In the first tournament game the NSFFL Patriots came out firing on all cylinders as they defeated the Vipers 40-12 and in the second game the Patritos finished things with a 34-14 victory, however only needing one more win proved to be more difficult than first thought as the Patriots were shut out for the first time since the team was formed over a year ago. The NSFFL 12-14 all-stars were 27-3 entering the tournament on Sunday but with the Championship on the line the Vipers pulled off a 6-0 victory stunning the All-stars from the North Shore. In the fouth game the Vipers kept the momentum going as they again held the Patriots offense and again claimed the victory 7-6. In the fith and final game as time was running out the Vipers went up first and converted giving them a 7-0 lead but the Patriots dug deep and scored 20 un-answered points to win the game 20-7 and their fifth championship in as many tournaments. It was a very long day but congratulations to the team and a special mention to Taylor Dabney who is the 12-14 girls captain that joined the team for the day and scored 3 TD's and recorded 4 sacks. Photo from left to right: Johnny Thomas - Peabody, Jay Jaroz - Peabody, Taylor Dabney - Peabody, Nick Vitale - Peabody, Chris Therrien - Peabody, Gerald Kahari - Lynn.

The 12-14 team is also looking for a few more top players to complete their roster as they prepare for the NFL regionals in November.

Thank you to all the players and parents that made the trip south and a big thank you to the tournament organizer for having us and all the teams we played in great spirits.

Austin Bradshaw
NSFFL President