‘The League’, the brainchild of former BB&N Coach John Papas debuted on Sunday. The North Shore Cobras defeated the Boston Junkyard Dogs 20-7. The league was developed by Papas to give local high school players the opportunity to play more tackle football in the spring. The club tackle football league is the first of its kind nationally. Papas is a well known name in New England. Aside from being a high school and college coach, he has also run the Elite Football Clinics for the past 28 years. I interviewed Papas on our weekly Coaches Chat in February. Papas outlined his vision for the league and why he came up with the idea of an off season tackle football league. “This has been one of my ideas for the last four or five years. When you live down here in the winter (Florida) and half the fall, football is an absolute religion. It’s not a coincidence that Alabama’s entire secondary is from Broward County, Florida. These guys play year round. There’s obviously not enough football played in the northeast.” Papas selling point, especially for kids that play in ISL schools is that they don’t play enough. He stresses that kids in Florida have a distinct advantage in recruiting because they play 15 games a year. Kids in Massachusetts and New England play between 8 to 11 games per year. As a former college head coach and assistant coach, Papas has been on the other side of the table in the recruiting process so he understands the significance of playing more football. It gets local recruits more exposure. Papas sells both his camps and ‘The League’ as opportunities to get recruited. “We have over 400 college coaches attend our camps every year. Our campers are exposed to coaches from division one, two and three.” Papas also pointed out that ‘The League’ is coached by college coaches as well. “ My kids played in leagues where daddies were their coaches. I’ve got news for you. Those dudes can’t coach high school football. The NCAA allows us to hire Division 3 coaches so we’re going to hire the best college coaches in the area to coach these kids. The next group of coaches we are going to hire are retired division one coaches living in Massachusetts.” Papas has done that. Of the four head coaches in the league, three are either current or former college coaches. The Metrowest Maulers are coached by current Fitchburg State Scott Sperone, the Junkyard Dogs are coached by retired, long time Brown defensive coordinator Mike Kelleher and the South Shore Dragons are coached by former Georgetown head coach and long time college assistant Kevin Kelley. The North Shore Cobras are coach by former NFL offensive lineman and current Pingree coach Mike Flynn. The teams have general managers as well. Papas’ son Nico, who played at Columbia is the general manager of the Junkyard Dogs. “The League” compromises of four teams that each have 40 man rosters. Over 200 players tried out in March. The league is predominately made up of ISL student athletes but as Papas told me, he hopes more kids from MIAA schools try out in the future. Papas’ goal is expand the league to ten teams for next season. He believes the demand will be there and judging by the response during this inaugural season, he’s right. Ultimately, Papas would like the league to go national. “The League” features some of the best players in New England including offensive tackle Sullivan Weidman who has committed to West Virginia, fellow offensive lineman Netinho Oliveri of Dexter Southfield and Hollis Dirstine of Lawrence Academy. Of course there is plenty of skill as well with Tyler Martin of BB&N and Preston Zinter of Central Catholic headlining the skill positions. They are two of the best underclassman prospects in the state. It will be interesting to see how The League does this spring. It is a short season so we will get a pretty good idea if interest and expansion is possible after this season. One thing about John Papas, he will work to make it work and ultimately, that is why this league will be a success long term.