By Tom O’Brien
NEFJ Correspondent

NEEDHAM – Weather and conditions were not ideal at St. Sebastian’s, but that didn’t stop some of the region’s best athletes from balling out in the “A Shot for Life” event for cancer research on Sunday.

A Shot For Life is an organization that funds cancer research and through sport. They have multiple sports departments for different sports, such as soccer and football, among others.

“We are a cancer research organization that uses sports not the other way around. We have eight sports departments across six different states, but our football department is special because its such a unique way for these players to share their love of football and how hard they work,” said ‘A Shot for Life” founder Mike Slonina.

This year’s edition was able to raise over $80,000 for cancer research.

“Thought it went amazing I really appreciate all the players. We obviously love sports but we do this for cancer research and the players took that seriously,” Slonina added.

The first event of the day was the kicking competition.

Everyone made it through the first two rounds. The first elimination came at the 30-yard line. Most of the damage was done in the next round as only three athletes qualified to the 40-yard line. The 40-yard line was the deciding factor as only one athlete was able to make it from that distance. Deignan Guiney of St. John’s Shrewsbury was the winner.

After the kicking competition, it was time for the flag football portion of the day.

The first two games were to determine the seeding for the championship rounds.

On the Team 1 vs Team 4 side, soon-to-be King Philip senior quarterback Brody Zolak had a field day, throwing multiple deep touchdowns ranging from 30 to 45-yards. He was joined by former teammate Tallan King and North Attleboro’s Frankie Strachan.

Zolak’s team won its first round matchup and then won again in the title game.

“It’s just really fun to get out here and play with guys you haven’t played with before from different schools and different states,” said Zolak.

“They should be proud of themselves as athletes, but should also be proud of themselves as humans,” Slonina said.