By Lori Haught
The Downtown Giants little league football teams are coming off of an impressive win a few weeks ago and entering into their home stretch, which the teams will celebrate with their homecoming games Sat. Oct. 14.
The nine to 10 year-olds will play at 10 a.m. while the 11- to 12-year-olds will play at noon. Robert Kolb, one of the teams’ coaches, said festivities are planned for the game at Murry Bergtraum field against the Bronx Colts.
President and founder of the league, Brian Giffin, said that a deejay and a pot luck lunch/dinner are planned for the celebration.
“The season has been absolutely exceptional,” Giffin said. “We have exceeded all our expectations and the parents and family participation has been extraordinary.”
Kolb is impressed with how much maturity the children have shown this season.
“If you treat children like young men, they will respond,” he said.
Kolb said they are also expecting a representative from the NFL at their homecoming game. He said the teams were recently invited to the commissioners box at one of the NFL games.
Kolb said the 18-12 win against the Staten Island Hurricanes by the 11- to 12 year-olds a few weeks ago was an amazing show by the team members.
“It was a brilliantly played game,” he said.
Quarterbacks Devon Kolb and Felix Chmiel both completed passes to Brent Scardapana, which lead to Scardapana’s two touchdowns.
He also said that the defensive plays by Gregory Perez and Lucas Ortega played a big part in the win.
“They worked really hard,” Kolb said. “They willed themselves to win the game.”
