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Three regions, one organizations, five championships.
Team 91 made it a clean sweep of the NLF Summer Kickoff youth event this past weekend at the Kirkwood Sportsplex in Delaware.
Team 91 Long Island was the ringleader with three titles and four championship game appearances. The 2030 Cyclones, 2031 Titans and 2033 Nitro won their respective divisions. The Cyclones took out Laxachusetts, 11-6, to win the event for the fourth straight year. They never lost an NLF Summer Kickoff game in those four years, a mark that will stay that way now that they’ve aged out of the event starting next year. The Cyclones reached last summer’s NLF National Championship title game at Stony Brook and will be favored to do so again this year with eyes on reclaiming the title.
Team 91 Long Island Also Wins at ’31, ’33
The Titans stormed back to take down the Annapolis Hawks, 8-6, in the 2031 title game. It marked the Titans’ first NLF championship, and they’ll be expected to make a deep run in July. 91 took out Big 4 HHH in the semifinals on Grayson Beschel‘s last-minute goal before beating the Hawks for a second time in the tournament. They won three games by a goal and one by two in their run, a testament to their ability to come through in the clutch.
The Nitro, the defending 2033 NLF national champion, looked in midseason form in trouncing the Hawks, 11-4, in the title game in a rematch of the teams’ pool play game, won 8-7 by the Nitro. Nitro downed the Crabs, 11-8, in the semifinals to set up their title game win.
Good First Impressions for Annapolis, Maryland
Not to be outdone, Team 91 Annapolis 2032 and Team 91 Maryland 2034 also took home championships. Playing in the organization’s first NLF event, Annapolis looked the part of one of the country’s premier teams by taking out Team 91 Long Island Valor, 10-4, in the final. Earlier in the tournament, they notched an eyebrow-raising 11-6 win over defending NLF national champion Laxachusetts. Team 91 Annapolis’ closest game of the tournament was a three-goal win over Blue Claws, a nod to its overall dominance.
Team 91 Maryland showed its ability to come up with plays in big moments by winning three games by a goal and one by two goals as part of its run. They took down in-state rival Crabs, 6-5, for the hardware, in their first NLF event.
The NLF is back at it this weekend with the NLF Rumble at Rutgers. Twenty-two of the country’s premier high school teams will compete at Rutgers in front of a stacked group of college coaches.