Middletown's River Plaza Chargers Win Regional Championship, Head To Nationals In Florida

MIDDLETOWN, NJ — They're headed to Florida!

The 9- and 10-year-old boys who are members of the River Plaza 10U football team won a regional championship game Saturday. The team played against a football team from Brooklyn, and their spectacular (44-7) win made them the regional champions for the New Jersey/New York/Pennsylvania/Maryland region of the American Youth Football (AYF) League.

Saturday's win also means these Middletown boys qualified to head to Naples, Florida for the week of Dec. 7 - 13, where they will compete in a national tournament. The River Plaza boys will compete against AYF football teams from across the United States, including teams from the Midwest, the Southeast and Atlantic region.

The boys were "incredibly excited to win on Saturday, and now head to nationals in Florida," said Jason Wombough, one of the assistant coaches. Sean Cody is head coach.

The boys will have to miss a week of school, but the AYF football tournament is considered an official absence, and some of the team moms and dads will provide tutoring on the road. The boys have to turn in all work they missed. This GoFundMe was started to help pay for their trip to Florida: https://www.gofundme.com/f/hel...

Saturday's game was played in Toms River and, while it was a little colder than the boys would have liked: "When they showed up Saturday morning, they were locked in; they were so excited," said Wombough. "To get 10-year-old kids to be dialed in that way is really, really difficult. We held control of that entire football game; it was 30-nothing at the half."

Standouts from Saturday's game were:

• Benjamin Ernst, who was also named season MVP. "He had some monster plays and had some huge tackles and huge runs," said Wombough.
• William Squires. "Will had a couple nice runs in that game, and a touchdown."
• Tight end James Lugones
• Jason Wombough

Last week: River Plaza Chargers Football Team Wins Jersey Shore Championship; Will Play Saturday For Regional Title