Tourney time for DAC Panthers

It’s early November. For the De Phillips Athletic Club Panthers, that’s championship time.
Three years ago, the flag football travel team made up of kids from the Whitestone-based recreational league, in their first year of existence, won the 9-11 year-old NFL Flag National Tournament of Champions in Orlando, Florida and, thanks to an eligibility issue in the older division, took part in the NFL Flag Football World Championships in Cologne, Germany. Last season, three of the same boys from that group took the national title again in the same age group.
All five of the original Panthers - quarterback Yianni Gavalas, wide receivers Eddie Roscigno Jr., Nicholas Athanasopoulos, center Brian Kruger, and running back Anthony Libroia - will be there in central Florida, playing up in the 12-14 year-old division.
Unlike the past two falls, they will not be alone. Ten of DAC’s finest in the 9-to-11 year-old division will also be there representing the New York Region in mid-November, looking for a championship to call their own.
“I’m not surprised because you have committed kids and committed parents,” Jimmy Gavalas said. “They train hard, they don’t miss practice; no one misses tournaments.”
That younger team almost never got off the ground. As Jimmy Gavalas and his assistant, Eddie Roscigno, were looking into forming the team, they were informed the NFL would not allow them to coach two groups.
Therefore, Gavalas and Roscigno embarked on a search within DAC. Prospective coaches either did not have the time or were not sure of the mission. At the last second, Xavier Montes took charge. The team was only together for three weeks until the New York Regional at Hofstra University in late September. No matter, they won the crown anyway.
“The kids are excited, the parents are excited, everyone’s excited,” Montes said. “We’re looking forward to it. It’s a great opportunity.”
In an identical mold to what the original Panthers were three years ago, Montes’s squad is based on speed, smarts and athleticism. Led at the skill positions by his son, David, and Michael Rodriguez, the team also has the very first girl Panther, Alexa Libroia, the younger sister of Anthony.
“She’s great on defense and she has a good head for the game,” Montes said.
The Panthers began out of necessity. After years of Pop Warner football, Yianni Gavalas wanted a break from the contact sport. So, Jimmy Gavalas, his father, signed him up for DAC’s intramural flag football league three falls ago and enlisted himself as a coach. Soon thereafter, they formed the Panthers and entered the New York Regional.
“The rest,” Jimmy Gavalas said, “is history.”
For the older team, chemistry is not a problem. The five core Panthers have known each other for quite some time. The quintet from northeast Queens began playing basketball together within the Long Island Lightning organization several years ago. They know each other’s moves by heart. Adding older and bigger players, such as Tommy Botsaris, Chris Dorgler, Allessandro Troia, Leondre Simmon and Pablo Valdes, has added to an already impressive unit; their closest victory during the New York Regional was a 20-point margin.
The additions, however, have not changed Jimmy Gavalas’ mission.
“We really try to have the kids do fundamentals first,” he said, “so they can learn the game and move on to the tackle game. If you do the fundamentals, winning just follows. It’s a clich/, but it’s the truth.”
No matter what happens to either team in two weeks, it will not change Jimmy Gavalas’ plans. He wants to add teams to the Panthers and spread the word of flag football.
“Flag football develops the skill of the quarterback and wide receiver much more than the tackle game does in my opinion,” he said. “You get to throw and catch so many times in a game.
“We attract a lot of attention,” he continued. “There’s a lot of interest for the better players to join our group. … At this point, I would like to introduce more teams, maybe two per age group and even a girls team at some point.”
Neither team is considered the favorite in the upcoming tournament. The older Panthers are playing up for the first time while this level of competition is new to the other ones.
Win or lose, Gavalas’ Panthers are adding to the sport. With 380 participants this past season, DAC is the largest flag football league in the city. The program began 10 years ago, under the guidance of Alan Krause. Four years ago, Mike Carton took over, and the league is flourishing.
“[The Panthers’ success] gets more kids signing up, more kids interested,” Carton said. “Our league has grown the last three years because of their exposure, no question about it.”