• Home
  • News

Leagues shine at Battle at the Beach

Click-2-Listen

By JULIUS WHIGHAM II

Palm Beach Post Staff Writer

Wednesday, December 26, 2007

GREENACRES — They came for a chance at some county bragging rights.

All-star teams from four local youth football leagues competed recently in the inaugural Battle at the Beach tournament at JohnI.LeonardHigh School. The tournament, held Dec. 14, 15 and 22 gave teams from the West Boynton Football League, the Western Communities Football League, the Acreage Athletic League and the Boca Jets program a chance to compete.


Carl Kiilsgaard/The Post
enlarge
Top Guns head coach Patrick Tenety hugs his players after his team's victory against the WCFL All-Stars. The team was greeted after the game by proud parents, fans, and friends.

Carl Kiilsgaard/The Post
enlarge
Boynton Beach Top Guns player Philip Santiago runs past WCFL All-Stars player Nick Atkinson during the game at John I. Leonard High.

Carl Kiilsgaard/The Post
enlarge
Parents of the Boynton Beach Top Guns 105-pound youth football team, including Raymond Miranda (in black) and Robin Jones (in yellow) show their disappointment after a dropped pass during their children's game.
Share This Story

Event director Brian Coe said that tournament was established so that local leagues could have a Palm Beach County-based all-star event. The tournament was put on by Rising Stars Athletics, a non-profit program that provides youth-related sports programs and activities.

"We don't really have an all-star tournament here, so I said let's do an all-star thing here in Palm BeachCounty," said Coe, the former head football coach at Leonard. "The kids don't have to travel all around the country. The funding for this is going to help our scholarship fund. (For) the kids that attend our camps, (it will) help pay their league fees."

The teams competed in the 105-pound, 120-pound and 140-pound divisions. The tournament also hosted exhibition games in the 14-Unlimited division.

For the players, it was an opportunity to test themselves against players from other areas of the county.

"I think it's great," Mike Hall, an assistant coach for the 120-pound WBFL All-Stars, said. "What it does is it allows the kids to play other teams. It lets the kids see what other kind of talent is out there from the different leagues. You play the same teams during the season and it's nice to play teams from different areas. It's a measure of your team and it's a measure of your league."

Gus Pasquale, head coach of the WCFL 120-pound All-Stars, said the tournament is opportunity for the players to get to know players that they will be competing against in high school.

"It's a great opportunity for the kids who have worked so hard since July to be chosen as the elite in their group," Pasquale said. "It gives them a chance to showcase their skills. At this age, they're getting ready for junior high school football and high school football and it gives them a good barometer for what the competition in the county is going to be like."

The inaugural tournament game saw the WBFL 105-pound All-Stars beat the WCFL 105-pound All-Stars. The WBFL teams also recently participated in the Orange Bowl youth football championships in Miami. With the WCFL and WBFL being recreation leagues, the all-star tournaments are a rare opportunity to face travel football programs, Patrick Tenety, coach of the 105-pound WBFL All-Stars, said.

"The rec leagues usually play each other, they stay in their own little box," Tenety said. "Now when you play travel teams, it's a little bit different. It gives the kids a chance to see that there's some athletes out there."

Mike Pignato, president of the WCFL and coach of the WCFL 105 All-Stars, said one concern was extending the season football season longer. But he added that he thought the Battle at the Beach was a well-run event.

"Brian Coe did a wonderful job here," Pignato said.

"The (pre-game) introduction, the entry that we did, it was first class. He's running a good tournament here."

Coe said that he hopes to have more leagues from throughout the county take part in the event year.

"Next year hopefully I can get all the leagues in the county to participate," he said.

"We want to give each league a chance to say 'Hey, we're pretty good over here.' It fosters competition and these guys are going to be playing against each other in high school, so they get a chance to meet the guys that they're going to playing against when they get in high school. "

More on palmbeachpost.com