The Goldbacks Youth Football program just put the finishing touches on its flag football season last week, crowning champions in all four of its Divisions at its new practice field in New Windsor.

Unlike the fall season in which the program plays neighboring towns, the flag football program is inhouse, meaning players that will be teammates in the fall square off against each other during the Flag season.

The Seahawks won the Mighty Mites championship with a win over the Giants. The 49ers won the Division 2 championship with a win over the Panthers.

The Raiders won the Division 3 title with a win over the Bills, putting a capper on an 8-0 season. Some of those players will either have aged out of the program or will have moved on to Modified football in the Newburgh Enlarged City School District.

The Division 1 Raiders finished their season by posting a victory over the Chiefs in the championship game.

“This year was really good,” Goldbacks Youth Football & Cheer President Rick Ceglio said. “We had a little bit of a concern about the turnout would be because there’s kids that are playing many sports. But we made it a point to make sure we did not interfere with Little League, where kids had to choose. Flag football is a fun sport. It’s a kind of sport where you should be able to show up and play.”

More than 140 kids turned out for the Flag football program this fall, after about 120 came out for the first season. There were four teams per division, and the program ran four divisions just like four tackle football.

The program is open to both boys and girls, and the players range from Kindergarten through eighth grade.

Not only that, but it also gives families that may be unfamiliar with the Goldbacks’ youth program to get a taste in the spring and possibly sign their children up for tackle football in the fall.

However, Ceglio changed something up for Division 2, which is ages 10 and 11 or grades 5 and 6 and had varsity and junior varsity players from Newburgh Free Academy to serve as coaches. High school players also served as referees.

Coaches included the Goldbacks’ key running back Eric Duncan, linebacker Vito Graci, Bryce Buxton and others. Chris Barlow from the Wallkill Panthers also served as a coach.

“That gives the kids a chance to give back, and to get involved and to work with the kids,” Ceglio said. “It gets them to give back to the program that they came from.”

On the flip side, it gives the youth Goldbacks a chance to work with their heroes from the varsity team.

“That was the coolest part,” Ceglio said. “They know who they are when they have their jersey on, but to stand with them and be on the sideline and learn from them, I think that’s a great moment for many of these kids.”