Delray Rocks 9-U win third straight AYFL Super Bowl; 13-U wins second
Delray Rocks 9-Under coach Eric Davis struck perfection again as his team stretched its American Youth Football League winning streak to a league-high 42 games, and with it, a third straight Super Bowl championship.
His team was so dominant that they had a running clock in the second quarter of the 38-0 win over previously unbeaten Miramar in the Super Bowl at PAL Field in Plantation.
The Rocks (13-0), who didn’t punt in a single game this season, have the league’s longest active winning streak dating back to the second round of the 2021 playoffs. Ironically the last team to defeat them was Miramar. The Rocks also defeated Miramar 19-0 in last year’s Super Bowl game.
“You wouldn’t think with two undefeated teams in a Super Bowl that you would have a running clock in the first half,” said Davis, who grew up and played in the Rocks program. “We were prepared and brought the intensity. We were ready. They never even crossed midfield.
“A lot of the other programs had their top coaches move down to the 9-Under Division and you see how that worked out for them,” Davis said. “Some of the parks even combined. We know that we are the targets. There was a lot of talk (on social media), but the internet never won a football game. You have to go out there and teach and prepare.”
Delray Beach opened the scoring in the first quarter on a 15-yard TD pass from Cameron Gauff to Jordayn Estime for a 6-0 lead. The Rocks stretched the advantage to 14-0 on a 2-yard run by Javaris Collins and two 2-point conversion kick by Kyle Gomez.
Collins added a 1-yard scoring plunge to extend the lead to 22-0 before Jeffrey Blanchard hauled in a 50-yard TD pass from Gauff and Gomez converted both 2-point conversion kicks to take a 30-0 halftime lead. Collins closed out the scoring with a 40-yard pick-6 interception and added Gomez’s 2-point conversion kick for the 38-0 lead. Blanchard was named offensive MVP for the game, while Collins was named defensive MVP.
“We don’t go into the season or games thinking about being undefeated,” Davis said. “We started off with our conditioning and installing our offense and defense. We have all but five kids back from when we started to build them as 7U.”
Defending national champion 13U team rallies for 14-8 victory
The 13-Under team, which won the 12-Under Super Bowl last year and went on to win the national championship, won its second straight Super Bowl title in the AYFL. So why not go out in style and win another championship?
“Anytime you win a Super Bowl, and you bring it back to the city, it’s exciting,” said Delray Rocks coach Rod Durham, who has coached most of the players since they were in the 6-U Division. “It was bittersweet though because, for a lot of them, this is their last year playing in the AYFL (they age out).”
“I started when they were 6 and we won three Super Bowls, including the last two back-to-back,” said Durham, who also won at 8-Under. “It made it more special because we lost four kids at the beginning of the year who left to go to other parks. I guess it didn’t work out for them.”
Omari St. Fort caught a 15-yard TD pass from Jeremiah Milcent and Derrian Geathers added the extra point for an 8-0 lead in the second quarter. Milcent threw his second TD of the day, this one covering 10 yards to Elijah Ellis for a 14-0 halftime lead. Pembroke Pines Optimist cut the lead to 14-8 on a yard slant from Kayne Garbutt to Se’maj Flowers.
The Rocks (13-1) came up with a huge goal line stop when Terry Gammage forced a fumble on the Delray Beach 1-yard line and Terrell Howard ran it back to the 50.
“Our defense was huge all day,” Durham said. The team’s only loss of the season was an 8-0 decision to the Pompano Eagles. They finished with the same record a year ago in winning the Super Bowl.
Durham said he had a bond with his group.
“Seeing that I coached them since they were 6, I feel like I raised them as my own kids,” said Durham, who plans to return to the program, but he is unsure of what age group he will work with.
“Everybody is asking what my plans are for next year and I am just not sure,” said Durham, who also coached the 12-U team this past season. “I just want to make sure the kids are on the right track and headed in the right direction.”
The Rocks featured eight teams this past season ranging from the 6-U to 13-U divisions. Rocks President Bernard Wright, who has held the position for the past eight years, said there were more than 280 players and over 100 cheerleaders in the program.
The Tri-County league has 15 teams, including Boynton Beach Bulldogs and Delray Rocks from Palm Beach: Kendall Kolts, Miami PAL Chiefs from Miami; and Broward squads Hallandale Beach Chargers, Hollywood PAL Eagles, Lauderhill Broncos, Miramar Wolverines, Pembroke Pines Optimist Bengals, Plantation Eagles, Sunrise Hurricanes, Tamarac Cougars and the West Pines Panthers.