Winthrop Youth Football

We had the opportunity to be on hand at Miller Field Sunday for some of the Winthrop Youth Football action, and what a great atmosphere it was for the second through eighth grade football players who get to wear the Winthrop Vikings uniforms. Youth President Peter Caggiano told the Sun-Transcript that there are more than 120 football players participating in the program, along with 60 cheerleaders.

We were there to take a photograph of State Sen. Anthony Petruccelli presenting a defibrillator to president Caggiano as a generous gift from the East Boston Neighborhood Health Center, which has really been a great, contributing organization in our town.

We were impressed with the quality of play by the Winthrop teams and the excellent coaching they were receiving — and how cool was it to see Robert Noonan coaching his son’s teams — and it made us realize that Robert was calling the signals for Winthrop High just a few years ago.

And we didn’t get to witness it, but one terrific eighth grader, Dillon Doherty, scored five touchdowns for Peter Caggiano’s team. There has been much discussion about the safety of players competing in youth football, but according to some of the experts, the helmets have never been safer than they are today and the precautions and preventative measures being taken have made football safer than it has ever been.

And while on the subject of Winthrop football, Mr. Caggiano’s fried dough was selling like hot cakes and drawing a line at the concession stand.