2007 National Indoor Tournament

Panthers Finally Face Off Against MoSteel

Like the obscure world of bodybuilding of the 60's and 70's, before bodybuilding became the fad or trendy thing to do, the flag football world has its own set of characters and story lines. There are many who think that the competitive flag football deserves recognition for honing the skill positions of the tackle game. There are some who believe that flag football will one day be an Olympic sport. Regardless of your school of thought, one thing is for sure...right now, youth flag football is owned by the mighty organization from North Miami, MoSteel. Led by their very dedicated coach, David Fried, the MoSteel Organization keeps producing 14U NFL National winners almost every year.

The Panthers of New York entered the flag football scene only two years ago. Since then they have won two National Titles of their own at the 11U age level and they have been selected to represent the USA at the 2006 NFL World Championships held in Cologne Germany. The Panthers 11U title team is now old enough, for the first time, to play at the 14U age level where they hope to challenge MoSteel.

"We have much respect for MoSteel, their coach, their dedicated parents, and their sponsor", says Panthers coach Eddie Roscigno minutes before entering the championship against MoSteel at the National Indoor Tournament (NIT) at the Giants Stadium Bubble.

The tournament opened with the young Panthers, new to the 14U level, playing against the boys from MoSteel. In a game filled with much emotion, the Panthers held a two point lead with just over one minute to go in the game. The lack of time did not disrupt the MoSteel offensive unit. They drove the length of the field to score the go ahead touchdown with 10 ticks left on the clock for a 26-21 victory. Although dejected, the Panthers knew they had made a great impression on the MoSteel Organization and they would hope to see them again in the playoff round.

In their second game, the Bergen Broncos, the most physical team at the Bubble tournament also had their hands full with the young Panthers. In the end, the Broncos would prevail by a score 14-8. As the playoff round opened, the Panthers would face the 2-0 Wildcats from Pennsylvania. The single elimination playoff round game was filled with much tension. The Panthers with much calm and precision orchestrated their game plan to perfection. In the end, the Panthers won to advance to the semi-final game. In the semi-final game the Panthers would once again play the Broncos from Bergen County. This time the Panthers played incredible defense and they did enough on the offensive side of the ball to win 20-6.

By beating the Broncos the Panthers had earned the right for another shot at MoSteel, who dismantled every team on their way to the championship game. The MoSteel coach, David Fried, made adjustments to their defensive schemes to fluster the Panthers offensive game plan. MoSteel's defense was able to shorten the field for their offense and thus they went on to a comfortable 18-0 win and their first NIT Title.

MoSteel, the national leader of youth flag football, gave much praise to the young Panthers. They are well aware that the Panthers will work hard to have another opportunity to play the boys from Miami.