Poland flag football team wins national title

February 9, 2014 at 12:05a.m.

Poland

The Poland Panthers have been one of the top 7-8 year-old teams in the Youngstown Youth Flag Football Association the past several seasons.

Their togetherness was rewarded on Jan. 19 when they defeated the Mentor Falcons in Kissimmee, Fla., 6-0 in overtime to claim the 43rd annual United States Flag and Touch Football League national flag football championship.

It was the first youth football national title for the Poland entry.

“The thing that made this team so special is that these boys really gave a total team effort. They constantly worked together and there wasn’t any selfishness,” head coach Dean Marantis said. “Each boy had his teammate’s back and it didn’t matter who scored nor had misgivings on the field, they just worried about playing as hard as they possibly could and it paid off.

“Most teams have one superstar that really stands out but in our case there were eight superstars. It’s rare to find those qualities in a young boy or for that fact an adult but we somehow have that quality in all eight of our players. It’s really impressive and I couldn’t be more proud of this group. It really was an awesome run.”

Playing a spring and fall season, Poland went 9-0 during the spring portion of their schedule, outdistancing 20 other teams in their division as the only undefeated squad en-route to YYFFA championship.

In the 30-team YYFFA fall league they went 8-1, defeating the Canfield 49ers, 34-14 in their Super Bowl matchup to capture their second title of the year.

“Most of the rosters in the leagues that we play consist of the best players from a few surrounding communities. Our team is made up entirely of boys from Poland and that was special,” Marantis added.

Members of the Panthers’ championship team include Jacob Allsopp, Bryce Barringer, Antonio D’Alesio, Chase Forsyth, George Marantis, Carson Maurer, Derek Thomas and Dylan Thomas.

While the YYFFA is associated with NFL 360, that governing body does not offer a national championship for its 7-8 year-old group so they aligned themselves with the USFTFL, then won the Perry, Ohio regional championship which earned them a paid bid to the national tournament.

“By winning the Perry regional we earned $250, which covered the admission fee. That was the beginning of our journey,” Marantis noted.

Poland’s run to the championship game included three wins over teams representing Florida and Alabama, giving them the right to play Mentor for the title.

The Falcons were a combined 48-3 overall and like Poland, won their league’s spring and fall titles.

They outscored opponents by a 334-12 count in the fall, however, two of their losses came at the hands of the Panthers.

Mentor’s road to the title game included a 12-7 win over defending national champion, Miami Ryan Football — a team that easily handled them earlier in pool play.

Despite prolific offenses, neither Poland nor Mentor could penetrate their opponents’ goal line so an overtime session was needed in order to decide a champion.

Mentor elected to receive to start the extra session, only to throw an interception which gave Poland its first offensive opportunity.

On the last play of the drive, Poland found the end zone for the only points of the game and the title.

“I have never seen a group of 7- and 8-years-olds play a sport with such heart. They came to Florida to win and that is exactly what they did as a team,” assistant coach Dan Frum said. “It truly was amazing to watch them give everything they had out on that field. It’s something that they will remember for the rest of their lives.”

In 2013, Poland posted a 25-2 overall mark, including all tournament play.