- November 27, 2024
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Two years ago, Ormond Beach sent its first football team to nationals in its history, and they finished in fourth place. Head coach Brian Colubiale’s oldest son was on that team. This past season, Colubiale and the Pride 12U team, with his youngest son, made another trip to the national tournament.
The Pride lost in the semifinal round to the eventual champions from Maryland.
“We just didn’t play like our regular selves,” Colubiale said. “I challenged them and told them that you win some and lose some, but you have to learn from your mistakes, and they responded in the next game.
In the bronze medal game, the Pride beat New York’s team 38-20, ending its season with a win and cementing the greatest season that an Ormond Beach team has ever had.
“For me, it felt incredible as a dad and a coach,” Colubiale said. “The bond the kids developed together was amazing. They all came from different backgrounds, but t it was all about the team getting better from the beginning to the end. We kept setting goals every time we accomplished the old ones.”
One of the Pride’s goals was to defeat the Gainesville Rattlers, who have ruled the Pride’s conference for the past few years. This past season, they not only beat them in the regular, but they also defeated the Rattlers in the Conference Championship to move on the Southeast Regional Championship, where they beat the Tampa Saints, avenging their only loss of the regular season.
“Those kids wanted payback, and they got it and then went on to the nationals, so they felt really good after that,” Colubiale said.
The Pride finished the season with an 11-2 record, and they returned to Ormond on Saturday, Dec. 13, just in time to make their annual walk in the Christmas parade. Unlike the past years, the team had new hardware that they were able to show to the city as they rode on the Ormond Beach Pride float.
“It was great that the kids got to carry around their three trophies and shot them off,” Colubiale said. “They were very excited about it, and they deserved it. They worked really hard for their accomplishments.”
Going forward, the team will be divided, due to some of the players going over the age of 12. Colubiale has yet to decide if he will continue to coach the 12U team, if he will move up a division with his players who are moving up. Parents from both divisions are requesting him to coach their kids to potentially return to the national tournament next year.
“I’m going to take a little break, and in March at signups I’ll make my decision then,” he said.
“Mainland’s quarterback Denzel Houston and many other great players on Mainland and Seabreeze played on the team that went to nationals two years ago, and these guys will be the next best team that will come through the area,” Colubiale concluded.
