- December 4, 2025
10U Texas Longhorns player, Romney Ricks, sprints down the field on a kickoff return against the Knights in Saturday’s Mad Dogs Flag Football season opener. Photo by Christine Rodenbaugh
8U Texas Longhorns Carson Pilvinsky, left, changes course against the Ducks’ #80, Gonzalez. Photo by Christine Rodenbaugh
The UCF Knights 10U team coached by Dennis Verdote, left, and Nuno Vergas, right, starts the fall season with a win. Photo by Christine Rodenbaugh
Florida Gators’ 10U quarterback Wyatt Birle, center, fakes a handoff to Carlos Benitez, right in Saturday’s Mad Dogs Flag Football season opener. Silace Martin Doucette, left, is poised to defend. Photo by Christine Rodenbaugh
Ohio State’s 10U player, Jace Perry, gains yardage against the Gators in Saturday’s flag football matchup. Photo by Christine Rodenbaugh
LSU’s Declan Morgan, left, goes for the flag of Hurricanes player Jaden Williams, right, in the 10U division of the Mad Dogs Flag Football season opener. Photo by Christine Rodenbaugh
12U Knights player Jayden Magsino turns the corner to outpace Penn State defenders for a touchdown. Photo by Christine Rodenbaugh
8U Penn State’s Rhys Abello, right, goes for the pull against University of Miami’s Dominic Ramirez. Photo by Christine Rodenbaugh
12U Coastal Carolina’s Nathan Eure cuts away from the UCF Knights’ Tristan Driggers, right. Photo by Christine Rodenbaugh
Coach Alex Garcia encourages his Texas Longhorns 10U team in Saturday’s opener against the Knights. Photo by Christine Rodenbaugh
Knights 10U Christian Pimentel turns the corner in Saturday’s season opener of the Mad Dogs Flag Football league at Ralph Carter Park in Palm Coast. Photo by Christine Rodenbaugh
Jay Maxwell, right, president of the Mad Dogs Flag Football league, and John King, director, wear the league's custom jerseys. Maxwell coached flag football for eight years before bringing Mad Dogs to Palm Coast. Photo by Christine Rodenbaugh
Friends and family cheer from the sidelines after visiting food trucks for snacks and drinks. Photo by Christine Rodenbaugh
Tanner Lock’s favorite part of the game is “pulling flags.” Photo by Christine Rodenbaugh
Mad Dogs Flag Football team banners waved in the fall-like breeze as players young as age 4 took to the fields at Ralph Carter Park on Saturday, Sept. 6, for the season opener.
League President Jay Maxwell said the participation started with 250 youth in its first season eight years ago. Today, the league has three seasons, with about 75% playing year round. Including repeated sign-ups, the league has about 1,000 registrations. This is the largest fall season in the league's history, Maxwell said.
Teams are named after colleges like the Florida Gators, Texas Longhorns and Penn State, with custom jerseys including the player’s name on the back.
The 10U Knights team, coached by Dennis Verdote, claimed victory over the Texas Longhorns, coached by Alex Garcia.
The league “is really about the kids and building their confidence,” Verdote said, “and the support from us coaches and the league both on and off the field.”
Tanner Lock plays for the 6U Georgia Bulldogs, who won against the Penn State Lions. His favorite part of the game is pulling flags and his team’s best play of the day was a Z Straight.
“It’s a play that we do; we line up in a triangle and one person runs straight and they do a handoff," he said
He’s been playing flag football for about a year.
Verdote said, “Our focus is to make sure that these kids have fun,” as well as learning to respect the sport, this league and those who support the league.
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