For flag football-playing youngsters living in the western communities, the Breakthru Athletic League provides two flag football seasons a year. The league conducts one in the fall and one in the spring for young flag football enthusiasts who live throughout the Acreage/Loxahatchee area, as well as in Wellington and Royal Palm Beach.
On Saturday, Nov. 4, the Breakthru Athletic League conducted its end-of-season “Super Bowl” tournaments for the fall season. The games — featuring 350 players on 43 teams — were played at Palm Beach County’s Samuel Friedland Park.
The league crowned nine different champions in the five different age group divisions, four for boys and five for girls: Peewee (ages 4-5; boys and girls); Freshman (ages 6-7; boys and girls); Junior Varsity (ages 8-10; boys and girls); Varsity (ages 11-13; boys and girls); and High School (girls only; ages 14-17).
The winning boys teams were the Jaguars (Peewee), Buccaneers (Freshman), Giants (Junior Varsity) and 49ers (Varsity). The winning girls teams were the Buccaneers (Peewee), Raiders (Freshman), Panthers (Junior Varsity), Jaguars (Varsity) and Patriots (High School).
According to Breakthru Athletic League Communications Director Matt Green, the seeding for the tournament was a random draw, which encouraged teams to truly focus on learning how to play flag football, having fun, and truly growing and developing as a team throughout the regular season.
“Our league is not just about teams playing the best players all the time for the best regular season record,” Green said.
The league features a handful of coaches with impressive credentials. For instance, Seminole Ridge High School varsity flag football head coach Scott O’Hara is the coach for the Patriots that play in the girls High School division. Sam Harris, the assistant flag football coach at Keiser University, served as the coach of the Seahawks that played in the girls Junior Varsity division. Three playing members of the Keiser University Seahawks flag football team — Sophia Caprio, Lizandra Amor and Marissa Rubino — served as coaches in the league. Caprio was the coach of the Seahawks in the girls Varsity division, while Amore and Rubino were coaches for the Seahawks in the boys Freshman division.
According to Green, all the players and coaches in the “Super Bowl” finals were given special recognition before each final game.
“All players and coaches playing in their Super Bowls were announced by the DJ and got the chance to run through our tunnel to take the field for the championship game,” Green said.
Registration is now open for the league’s spring 2024 season. In addition to the fall and spring leagues, the Breakthru Athletic League is making plans to get some of its players involved in travel flag football competition.
“We are also adding competitive/travel tournament teams within our league, playing under our BA Pro brand, which will be representing the Breakthru Athletic League at NFL Flag Regional Tournaments and other local/regional flag football events, including the annual Flags for the Cure Tournament that will be in Wellington in January,” Green explained.
For more information about the Breakthru Athletic League and registration details, visit www.breakthruathleticleague.com.
