Members of 2013 National Team 14U

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•  Nick Alberto

•  Ezrah Archie

•  Shaun Davila

•  Andrew Goshine

•  Elvis Hines

•  Tyler Parsons

•  Tyron Tucker II

•  Dante Waugh-Hill

• Coach Michael Tucker

• Coach Tyron Tucker 

• Coach Jay Arthur

 

 

 

   2013 -  During the past four years, the N.J. Panthers have competed in NFL FLAG powered by USA Football Regional Tournaments in Florham Park at the New York Jets training facility; New Canaan High school in New Canaan Connecticut; Ford Memorial Park in Jersey City; and this year’s tournament at Lincoln Park Track in Jersey City.

Our first two years were tough as we lost in pool play both times. Last year, we started training earlier and made some new additions to our team. Heading into Jersey City with lots of confidence because of great tournament play during the summer, we were ready this time, and we dominated teams in pool play and made it to the playoffs feeling primed to win it all. In the semifinals, we lost to D.A.C, a tough, well-coached team. The loss hurt the team since one of our best players, Jamal Parker, was aging out that year, and it would be tough to win regional’s next year.

 

At the beginning of 2013, many coaches contacted us about playing in local and national tournaments. This past spring, our kids played locally and in two tournaments, our last being in April. It seemed like the kids lost interest and after not competing for most of the summer it looked like we weren’t going to compete in the Regional Tournament this year. But two of our players had a different idea! Spearheaded by Tyler Parsons and Tyron Tucker II, they began to contact their other team members. The response was overwhelming. Everyone was in. So with two weeks to prepare, we went to work. Practices were long, but it looked like we didn’t miss a beat. Coach Mike Tucker and I felt like this time it could be magical, and it was.

 

We dominated pool play, going 3-0 and winning by a combined score of 95-0, heading into the playoffs as the top seed everything was pointing us to win our First NFL FLAG Regional Tournament.  As usual, the first two opponents we faced were good teams, but we defeated them, putting us back into the semi-finals where we lost last year. We started off slow going to the half down, 7-6. After reworking some things, we opened up the lead and won. Now we were headed to championship game one win away from Dallas. The energy was high, and we were ready!

 

Our opponent was the defending champs from last year – the Red Storm – a well-coached team from New Hampshire. The game was hard fought and well played by each team. We came out victorious. Our message to the kids was to never give up, that they can achieve anything with hard work and dedication. Now with Dallas in our sites, finishing strong and winning nationals is our goal. The N.J. Panthers would like to thank all the hard working individuals from NFL FLAG and USA Football for the opportunity to be a part of something of this magnitude. We, the Panthers, believe that NFL FLAG will continue to grow and be bigger than the Little League World Series.