The Blacksburg Recreation Department’s Titans took runner up Saturday’s NRV Super Bowl junior division championship. The team fell to Radford 32-6.
Recreation league football took center stage this weekend at Pulaski County High School with Super Bowl championship action in three different age groups.
Rain played havoc early on, but the New River Valley Recreation Football League held their games on the big stage. The league was founded four years ago by recreation departments from Radford, Giles, Narrows, Christiansburg, Blacksburg, Pulaski County and Montgomery County.
Each year, the top teams compete in knockout rounds to determine the final two for the championship. This season’s regular season records determined the seedings.
The Radford Recreation Department sent three teams to the finals in each division, and its junior division team pulled out the championship with a 32-6 win over Blacksburg.
The Riverlawn Rams claimed the top spot in the Mites Division with a 22-0 win over Radford.
In the upper seniors’ division, Radford could never find their footing, losing 20-6 to the Pulaski Chiefs.
The league also took the opportunity to honor one its own directors between the Mites and Juniors competition. Eddie Sutphin has compiled 32 years of service in area recreation, with most of it coming in youth sports.
He became a sports coordinator for the town of Pulaski in 1985 after spending several years as the sports editor of the Southwest Times.
For 18 years, he served in a recreation capacity. In 2003, Pulaski County absorbed the recreation program within its ranks and Sutphin remained as the West Sports Coordinator.
He was instrumental in starting the first sanctioned Dixie Youth Baseball and Girls Softball programs n Pulaski, along with the Hershey’s Youth Track and Field meets, and jumpstarting the area’s youth soccer program.
Sutphin has announced his retirement for later this year, and the area recreation directors thought it would be fitting to name the super bowl championship game after him. So, from now, the weekend will be known as “Eddie Sutphin New River Valley Super Bowl Games.”
He was recognized with a plaque and a special jacket to remember the day.
