Baldwin bombers take division championship

The Baldwin Bombers travel football team celebrated their first championship game win in 11 years last month.

The Baldwin Bombers, a nine to eleven year old travel football team, celebrated their win as division championship in the Nassau County Youth Football League, on Dec. 4 at Dave and Busters in Westbury.

The division playoffs started in November, where they played the Uniondale Knights and defeated them 20-6. The next weekend, the team played their championship game, where they were able to secure victory over the Seaford Broncos in overtime, winning 2-0.

Jett Mathurim, 10, Lenox Elementary student, said he was nervous about whether or not his team can pull of the win for a majority of the game. He said when he saw Leighton running the ball down to score the game-winning touchdown as like watching a movie.

“I was like whats going on, are we going to win this,” said Mathurim. “Then we saw Leighton running with the ball and we all got up and started screaming and laughing to celebrate our win. 

Leighton “Jr.” Gouldberg, a Meadow Elementary student, scored the game-winning touchdown in the overtime game, which he said was a major personal achievement.

“It felt good to help my team take the win,” said Gouldberg. “Making touchdowns is my favorite thing to do in the sport.”

Brandon Bailey, originally from Detroit but now living in Baldwin, joined the organization as a coach in 2017, when his son Brandon Bailey Jr. started playing football for the team. In 2019 he became the head coach and led his team to victory in the Nassau County Youth Football League. He said his team shares a special bond because the majority of the players have been playing with each other or went to school with each other for the last five years.

Bailey and his assistant coaches gathered with the team at Dave and Busters where they enjoyed an array of sweet snacks and spent a few hours playing games in the arcade. Eventually the team got together and received awards from the coaches like most valuable players or the ironman award. Some award recipients included Charles Shepard , 10, a Steele Elementary School student, who won the Leadership award, and Jazier Bunn, who was awarded Most Valuable Player.