Photo courtesy of Regis Ramos
A Hoover youth flag football team recently was named as one of six “championship” teams for their age division at the Flag Football X tournament at AT&T Stadium in Dallas. From left are Clayton Gaydosh, Henry Brothers, Roman Magnuson, Peyton Johnson, Jude Jernigan and Marcus Ramos.
A Hoover youth flag football team recently was named as one of six “championship” teams for their age division at the Flag Football X tournament at AT&T Stadium in Dallas.
The Hoover Iron 9U team went 4-1 in the tournament, which featured 24 teams from multiple states on Jan. 7-8, and took first place in one of the leading brackets, coach Jacob Gaydosh said.
The team — comprised of Clayton Gaydosh, Henry Brothers, Roman Magnuson, Peyton Johnson, Jude Jernigan and Marcus Ramos — went 2-1 in the first day of pool play, which took place at a soccer complex in Irving, Texas, a suburb of Dallas, their coach said. The first day, the boys defeated teams for Spring, Texas, and Parker County, Texas and lost one game to a team from Leander, Texas.
The second day included two games at AT&T Stadium (where the Dallas Cowboys play) against other teams that went 2-1 the first day, and the Hoover Iron 9U team won both games. The first was a 12-7 victory over a team from Millsap, Texas, and the Iron won the championship game for their bracket 13-0 against the Texas Ice Cold team from Fort Worth, Gaydosh said.
While the boys were in the 9U division, most of them actually were 10 by the dates of the tournament, which was based off their ages as of Jan. 1, 2022, their coach said.
Most of the boys played together as a team in the Over the Mountain flag football league last year, but two were substitutes, Gaydosh said. This was their only tournament outside the Birmingham area for this season, he said.
Gaydosh said he didn’t care if the team placed first or last in the tournament; he just wanted to give the boys the experience of playing in AT&T Stadium because that’s something they’ll remember for the rest of their lives.
Gaydosh also coached an 11U team called the Hoover Legends at the tournament, and that team went 2-3 for the weekend. Will Brothers served as the assistant coach for both teams.
