Warwick wins Superbowl

Warwick - The Warwick Division 1 youth football team has been around a long time. But going into the fall 2006 season, there was one significant change. Brian Monahan came in as the new head coach. “This is my 12th year coaching but my first year coaching in Warwick,” Monahan said. “Prior to this I coached 11 years in Monroe-Woodbury Pop Warner.” Monroe-Woodbury’s loss was Warwick’s gain as Monahan lead his team to a 2006 superbowl championship. What made the victory all the more impressive was the physical makeup of his squad. “Division 1 allows eight- and nine-year-olds to be 120 pounds with a 35-man roster. My team consisted of 21 players and my heaviest child was 78 pounds,” Monahan said. “What made the difference with this team was the size of our hearts, work ethic, and our will and desire to win. We are the epitome of team work.” Helping to counterbalance his teams physical limitations was the supportive spirit of the parents involved in the program. “Normally in youth coaching the parents are sometimes an issue. I found that the parents in Warwick were very positive, supportive, and I realized that there is a deep football tradition with many of the families in Warwick,” Monahan said. “We always had the biggest crowd at every home and away game.” Even though playing at Miche Stadium at West Point was wonderful for the Warwick squad, the road to the superbowl is what proved to be most rewarding. “Playing in the Super Bowl was amazing but even more amazing than that was the adversity we faced and the efforts that took to get this team to the Super Bowl. There are 26 teams in our division; 13 West Coast and 13 East Coast with a two-game playoff format. In order to get into the playoffs we had to beat an undefeated Wallkill team which made us the third seed,” Monahan said. “Then we had to play the two seed East, last years Super Bowl Champions the New Windsor Eagles.” Taking on last year’s champions didn’t daunt the Warwick boys. “We won 14-6. We then had to switch over to the West Coast Division and play the undefeated, number one seed, Pine Bush. We won 27-6. This win landed us into the Super Bowl and had to play the number two seed, the Middletown Bears,” Monahan said. “We won the Superbowl with the winning score of 26-25. The last 4 teams that we played all had at least 6 kids at 120 pounds.” In a season with so much success and so many shining moments, there is one that stands out in Monahan’s mind. “Watching a player that last year never played football become my MVP with 108 tackles.” Not one to rest on his laurels, Monahan has a game plan set for 2007 season. “At the beginning of this season we set three goals: go undefeated, get into the playoffs, and win the Superbowl,” the coach said. “We accomplished 2 of our 3 goals. Obviously next year is to complete all three of our goals.” Russ Crespolini is the Online Editor for Straus Newspapers and can be reached at 845.782.4000 ext. 352 or at webmaster@strausnews.com.