B-A Youth Football Goes Brawling Against Tyrone
Teams from rival towns play in first of two weekend rivalry series
The North Side Red Devils break the huddle in their game Sunday against Tyrone’s Eagles.
On Sunday, B.A.Y.F.L. teams North Side and South Side hosted two teams from Tyrone in games at Memorial Field.
In Tyrone, East and West Antis played against T.Y.F.L. teams at Gray-Veterans Memorial Field.
The inter-league games were the first of their kind and have been in the making for several years.
A couple years ago the President of the B.A.Y.F.L., Chris McCartney, was contacted by Tyrone President, Ryan Fleck, about helmets, and the idea sprung from there.
McCartney was clear that they do not want to combine the leagues, but they would like to have a Tyrone and Bellwood inter-league play every year.
McCartney said players from both sides can grow from the games.
“You get a different kind of competition and they get to see different styles of play,” McCartney. “There’s also a little extra boost to Bellwood and Tyrone’s rivalry for when they get older; they might as well start young.”
The leagues have always had all-star teams play each other, but they wanted to give all the players the experience to play against someone from a different school.
The plan is for each league to have their own championships, but at the end of the season on October 25 the first place finishers from each league will play in a championship game in Bellwood. The same night third place teams will also face off at Memorial Field.
Meanwhile, second place teams and fourth place teams will play in Tyrone.
In Sunday’s games in Bellwood, North Side’s A team beat the Eagles 18-14, while North Side’s B team beat the Cougars 6-0. Both South Side teams lost, with the Vikings B team falling 54-6 to the Panthers, while the Vikings A team lost 50-0 to the Lions.
In Tyrone, the East Antis Rams B squad dropped a 24-0 decision to the Redskins and the Rams A team fell to the Raiders 44-18. The West Antis Packers B team lost to the Steelers 30-6, and the Packers A team downed the Vikings 14-8.
Check out the slide show above, featuring photographs by the talented sports photographer Terry McCaulley.
