Niagara Youth Flag Football said good bye to August in impressive fashion.
The organization hosted the biggest flag football event the province has ever seen with 56 teams competing. Some of the top organizations from Ontario and 12 teams from Mexico made for excellent competition. Divisions ranged from under-8 to under-15 age classes and included boys, girls and coed divisions.
“While incredible and competitive flag football was the focus, the weekend had something for everyone. Some highlights of the event included food vendors, DJs, merchandise and great sportsmanship,” said NYFF founder Matty Hill.
The association is hoping to eclipse the 100-team mark next year and will move the tourney back one week to accommodate the American teams clamouring to join the event.
“A huge shootout to Erin our travel director and Bryan our operations manager,” Hill said. “Special thanks to our BBQ crew, Ed, Craig, Nicole, Vicky, Ana, Rick, and Tara. Gratitude as well goes to Jeremy, Julie, Andrea, Diane, Kae from Brock University, Ryan, and all the Nitro coaches and helpers who assisted in every possible way to make the weekend a success.”
The tournament was held at Youngs Sportsplex in Welland, the home field of NYFF, and Hill describes it as an incredible facility to host such an event.
“The Niagara Youth Flag Football house league, which serves over 700 players, has recently seen the travel program of Niagara Nitro take off with over 100 players playing at the elite level,” Hill said. “The Nitro teams who spent the summer participating in tournaments all over North America had great success on home turf this past weekend.”
The under-8 open divisions featured all-Mexico finals with Mexico Elite winning. The under-8 Niagara Nitro lost in the semifinals.
In the under-10 open divisions, the TTFL Argos out of Toronto won gold in the top tier while the Hawks won silver in Tier 2.
The under-11 girls had the Burlington BMFA Bills as champions with the Niagara Nitros as runners up.
The under-11 boys division saw the Niagara Nitro win gold and the Burlington Titans win silver.
In the under-13 boys division, DawksSports Cowboys won gold with Nitro junior the runner up. In the Tier 2 division of the same age group, Nitro senior claimed the win.
The under-13 girls final was the game of the weekend and saw Mexico beat the Niagara Nitro in overtime. The game had close to 500 spectators on the sidelines.
The under-15 girls final was won by Mexico Elite, who seemed to control that division all weekend.
The under-15 boys division was won by the Niagara Nitro, who also dominated their division. The junior team from Niagara Nitro in the under-15 division was eliminated in the semifinals by DawksSports Cowboys, who went on to be finalists. Toronto’s TTFL Argos won silver in Tier 2 of the U15 division.
