CHAMPIONSHIP NOTEBOOK
by Jerry Beach

After five seasons in which the Super Bowl and Touch Bowl championships were largely won by teams familiar with the hardware, 2011 will go down as the season in which patience was rewarded. The Levittown Lions won their first title in their 12th season of existence while the Freeport Fire earned its first Touch Bowl crown in its eighth year…The 13-time champion Malverne Bills won the previous five Super Bowls, of course, while among the last five Touch Bowl winners, only the 2006 Plainview Panthers and 2007 Mineola Colts had never before won a title. And the Colts were an expansion team during their championship season…The last two Touch Bowl champions, the Wantagh Regulators and Bethpage Chaos, had previously won the Division III crown…However, the 2006 Panthers are kindred spirits of this year’s Fire. The Panthers’ inaugural title came in their fourth Touch Bowl and their 10th season…The Lions’ shutout win was the first in the Super Bowl since the Bills beat the Haulers 7-0 in 2007 and the most lopsided since the Franklin Square Falcons blanked the New Hyde Park Jaguars 33-0 in 2005…The last two Super Bowls have been lopsided affairs, with the Bills and Lions beating the Haulers by a combined 47-7. The Bills’ previous four Super Bowl wins, though, were by a combined 21 points…Westbury Haulers coach John Allen may have lost the Super Bowl, but not his sense of humor. “Made it to the final four times, lost four times,” Allen said. “Must be a record.”…Alas, it’s not quite a record. While the Haulers have lost four Super Bowls in the last six years, the Bills lost four in a row from 1970-72 and six out of seven from 1970-76. The Bills’ combined margin of defeat in those six losses: 23 points…At the other end of the emotional spectrum is Lions WR/DB Antwan Wooden, who became the Charles Haley of the NCTFL by winning his fifth championship. Wooden was a member of the Bills for the first four of their five straight titles…The Touch Bowl, meanwhile, may be in the midst of a competitive trend. This marks the second straight year the Touch Bowl was decided by seven points or less. Prior to that, only one Touch Bowl this century had been settled by seven points or less (2005)…The Touch Bowl has not gone to OT since 1981, when the Massapequa Moose needed THREE extra sessions to beat the Woodbury Commons, 6-0…While the freak Halloween snow/rainstorm forced a week’s worth of postponements and pushed Championship Sunday back to Dec. 11, the weather for the title tilts was perfect for the second straight year…Congratulations to Barry Bekoff, who officiated his 34th straight Super Bowl…As always, we spend a little time at the end of the year-end NCTFL Report looking ahead to next year…Division I will be as fierce as ever, with the Lions having earned the right to be declared the early favorites but the Haulers and Bills on their heels and determined to finally win that first title and resume a dynasty, respectively…Watch out, too, for the Mineola Colts, who began the year 5-0 and nearly came back from a 20-0 deficit against the Lions…More improvement can be expected from the Herricks Hellcats, who made the playoffs for the first time since moving to Division I, and the Regulators, who advanced to the D-I postseason for the first time since 2006…The East Meadow Seasons continued rebuilding while the Bethpage Chaos will be better after enduring a tough transition to Division I…If the Fire and Valley Stream Wolverines remain in Division II, they’ll be the co-favorites, but parity reigned in D-II this year: The Wolverines’ seven regular season wins were the fewest for a D-II top seed since 2002…The Massapequa Marauders are loaded with NCTFL veterans and nearly made the Touch Bowl in their debut season while the Valley Stream Bengals struggled after reaching the Touch Bowl last year but won the final two games. The Mineola Knights will also be eager to make the playoffs for the first time after knocking at the door of the postseason in their first two seasons… Thanks again to all team reps for being so prompt and attentive with sending me their highlights for usage in the NCTFL Report…And as always, we end the season by wishing you a happy holiday season and a safe, happy and healthy 2012. See you in the fall.

Return To Homepage