NYHS brings home a win after two losses at Flag Football Shabbaton

The NYHS flag football team put up a good fight, winning one out of three games at the flag football Shabbaton in Atlanta, GA. 

On Friday, the NYHS team played Atlanta Jewish Academy (AJA) and lost 34-18. Later that day, they played Sheck Hillel Community School from Miami and lost 40-0. On Sunday they played Tanenbaum CHAT from Toronto and won their game 13-12. 

Before the Shabbaton, most of the other teams attending had been participating in flag football leagues at their schools. This was the first time that kids from NYHS and TAPN attended a football tournament. “We didn’t lose because of a lack of trying,” Joe Gamel, a senior from NYHS, said. “All these teams have all been playing in leagues for the past few years.”

According to Sol Levy and Joe Gamel, at the beginning of the games, the boys were nervous since they knew that the other teams had played before. 

Despite the challenge, NYHS won its last game in the tournament against Tanenbaum CHAT and had a great time at the Shabbaton. “[The] Shabbaton was very fun, all the kids were very nice,” said Gamel. Coach Shimon Gamel, Joe’s brother, was proud of the boys and was happy with the win. 

The team enjoyed the programming and had a great time at the events. “They brought in a speaker from ESPN we all went to, it was very interesting,” said Joe Gamel. 

At the end of the last game, Josh Benezra and Yehonatan Rothstein were awarded MVPs. Each team was able to honor two boys and were given trophies. Benezra had four sacks and two blocks on defense and Rothstein had two touchdowns in the tournament.

“The win was amazing,” said Shimon Gamel. “It was so satisfying. We worked so hard and just to win even once was awesome”.