The top team in a youth football association in Texas was barred from the playoffs after officials decided the team was “too good,” a league official said.
The Flower Mound Rebels, which is made up of 7- and 8-year-olds, had a perfect record and had outscored their opponents 199-6, Keller Youth Association Vice President Rhett Taylor told NBC Dallas-Fort Worth.
Taylor, whose own team was beaten 33-0 by the Rebels, told the station that the team had “dominated” the recreation-level league — a performance that was behind the decision to keep them out of the playoffs.
“They are too good. I fully admit it,” he said. “They are a select-level team. They are too good for a rec-level team.”
If the team competed in the league's super bowl, he added, “I’m going to have a problem from the Keller parents.”
The Rebels joined the league last year during the pandemic. In an interview with NBC Dallas-Fort Worth, Coach Ragan Montero called Taylor a “sore loser” and accused him of “changing the rules so it benefits him.”
Center Greyson Tanner, 8, told the station that the move made him “very sad.”
“I feel like we deserve to play in the playoffs,” he said.