Six players and their parents from the North Shore Flag Football League (NSFFL) decided to make the trip across the pond to Scotland for a youth flag football tournament. The NSFFL has sent teams all across the USA to compete in tournaments including in Texas, Florida, Maryland, New York, Pennsylvania and so on.
The team consisted of four boys and two girls, all hailing from the communities of Marblehead, Lynn, Salem, Middleton, Beverly and Windham, N.H. There were originally eight players set to go, but two of the players had some last minute passport issues and forced a roster of just six players to make the trip. The final roster was made up of Conway Bradshaw (Lynn), Jake Bobowski (Marblehead), Raizel Obrero (Salem), Vinny Graziani (Middleton), Dariush Afsharian (Beverly), Taylor Bomba (Windham, N.H.).
The tournament, dubbed “Flagging New Year,” was held just outside of Glasgow in an indoor facility known as Ravenscraig Sports Facility.
The six youth players — aged between 10 and 13 years old — played five games in the round robin part of the tournament and came away with a 5-0 record, outscoring their opponents 182-20. North Shore beat out teams such as the Nuneaton Jaguars, Glasgow Tigers, Inverclyde Phoenix and Chorley Buccaneers to advance to the championship game, where it faced the local Hamilton Bucs team. The North boys and girls took care of business and walked away with a 40-6 victory in the final, earning the prestigious Scottish Cup.
