FORT WAYNE, Ind. (WANE)- The Fort Wayne Phenoms won the NFL flag football regional this past weekend, beating the RF Wildcats 26-7. The Phenoms recorded a total of 140 points during the entire regional tournament. This was a crucial win for the Phenoms, as it was their ticket to the ProBowl in Las Vegas, Nevada.
The Fort Wayne Phenoms are an 8-U flag football team coached and started by Damon Howard. After losing in the regional championship in years past, this was important to the program to win this time around.
Head Coach Damon Howard says that coming together has always been his goal.
“My goal was to always bring us together, one unit. We’ve taken kids from the metro area, from out of town and brought them together.”
-Damon Howard Head Coach of the Fort Wayne Phenoms 8U Flag Football team
The team’s history goes back to 2019, where only 5 kids showed up to practice. From then on, their team grew to 9 dedicated players. For a year and a half the team worked hard to earn their spot at the flag football ProBowl.
But, being champions means more to the coaches and players. Assistant coach Shaq Arrington says it’s about being together.
“We enjoy it and means just as much as it does to us as it means to the kids. They love the comradery they all get to play together finally and compete against each other. They love to go out of town to represent the city of Fort Wayne. And even when they see another team from Fort Wayne they always stick together so I think it brings the whole city together.”
-Shaq Arrington Assistant Coach of the Fort Wayne Phenoms 8U Flag Football team
The Phenoms will play in the ProBowl tournament starting February 4th, 2022 in Las Vegas, Nevada.
For more information on youth flag football in Fort Wayne, click here.
Travis Burnett
A pioneer in the flag football community, Travis helped co-found the Flag Football World Championship Tour, FlagSpin and USA Flag. Featuring 15+ years of content creation for the sport of flag football, creating and managing the largest flag football tournaments on the planet, coaching experience at the youth and adult level as well as an active player with National and World Championship level experience.
