Friday Night Lights-Desert Sands Coed Youth Flag Football

1st /2nd – Boise St defeated Buffalos White

3rd /4th – UNC Baby Blue defeated Buffalos White (Gold)

3rd /4th – Army defeated Michigan (Silver)

3rd /4th Girls – USC Red defeated Buffalos

5th/6th Girls- UNC Tarheels

5th/6th Boys LSU (Gold)

5th/6th Boys Missouri Tigers (Silver)

7th/8th Boys Utah

Congratulations to all our Regular season Spring 2025 Winners!!

 Action requested-Please swing by the FNL snack shack to receive your 1st and 2nd Place metals prior to the Thursday Playoff games.

Winners by age group and division-

 1st & 2nd -

Red – 1st Purdue (Phil Tanner) 2nd Boise St. Blue (Troy Roberts)

Blue – 1st Iowa (Anthony Thomas) 2nd Oregon White (Arvan Willis)

3rd& 4th-

Red – 1st UNC Baby Blue (Albert Houge) 2nd Buffaloes White (Anthony Aguirre)

Blue – 1st Buffaloes Gold (Josh Willis) 2nd USC Black (Richard Romo)

3rd & 4th Girls-

1st – ASU (Erin Ferrell) 2nd USC White (Jerry Mayo)

 5th 6th All Girls-

1st UNC white Coach Abel Tijerina, 2nd Miami Coach Jacob Jaurequi

5th 6th Yellow-

1st Clemson Coach Marcus Aleman, 2nd LSU (Lakers) Coach Ishmeal Sanchez

5th/6th Red-

1st UCLA Blue Coach Jesse Ruiz, 2nd Miam( nonwhite) Coach Bob Taffolla

5th/6th Blue-

1st Michigan Coach Saul Moralez, 2nd Hawaii Coach Brent Rausch

7th/8th Red-

1st Utah Coach Ryan Quigley, 2nd Michigan Blue Coach Rob Tanner

7th/8th Blue-

1st Ole Miss Coach TJ Silva , 2nd Cal Navy Coach Alfred Franco

9th 10th -

1st Colorado Black Coach Erik Cullen

Thanks for a fantastic season and good luck in the single elimination Playoffs starting Thursday May 15th and ending with semifinals and Final games being played on Friday May 16th.

DO NOT Forget to go online this week to take advantage of our Early Bird discount for the upcoming FALL Season.

Below are the Fall 2025 registration links:

The Boys FALL division is:

Click here for Fall 2025 Boys Division

The All-Girls FALL division is:

Click here to register for Fall 2025 "All Girls" division

Get'er done NOW because Practices start late August and games end of September.

Keep it FUN!!!!

Tom Roche & John A. Maldonado

Commissioner Friday Night Lights

www.desertsandsfnl.com

Ph. 760 636-8266

DESERT SANDS Friday Night Lights

#1 Flag Football LEAGUE in the Coachella Valley

24 CONSECUTIVE SEASONS AND GROWING!

 EXPERIENCE OUR EXCLUSIVE "CATCHING KIDS DOING THINGS RIGHT" REGOGNITION PROGRAM

#1 "CHARACTER DEVELPOPMENT" LEAGUE IN THE VALLEY

Desert Sands Families-

Practice Good Sportsmanship during single elimination playoffs!!!

Coaches remind your Parents and sidelines the overall purpose of our league is to develop the youth in our community. It's fun to win; however, the lessons we teach are far more important than “wins and losses”.

Every Friday half the Teams win, and half the teams lose, but everyone can learn the life lessons generated from the :50 minutes of competition. Participants learn how to compete, how to deal with adversity, hard work, and Team commitment. No scholarships just the joy of playing flag football.

Keep the focus on personal and Team development, good sportsmanship, and having Fun! CMP will be rocking on Friday nights and we can’t wait to get things rolling.

We will see you at the Playoffs beginning Thurs May 15 and crowning our Champions on Friday May 16th.

Reminders from your Kids-

* I'm a Kid

* It is just a Game

* My Coach is a Volunteer

* The Referees are Human

* I will not remember any plays Only how you Reacted 

Keep it FUN!!

Tom Roche and John Maldonado

DSFNL Commissioners

Disclaimer- Desert Sands Friday Night Lights Flag Football League is not affiliated with, endorsed, or sponsored by the school district.

Competition has made us better! You can expect the best youth sports experience in the Valley.

1. Every Team, Every Week, Every Coach, has incentive rewards to recognize Players for excellence "on and off" the Field sponsored by Chick-Fil-A and Handel's ice cream

• Better Equipment- including balls jerseys and flags.
• Better Referees and Coaches
• Better trophies, metals, and rings
• Added fields and security.
• Improved special event ie-Can food drive and Free Mother’s Day Roses for our special ladies.
• Multiple divisions at every age group- ensures more competitive balance

FRIDAY NIGHT LIGHTS - ONE GOAL…. KEEP IT FUN!  THANKS FOR YOLUR TREMENDOUS SUPPORT!

Tom Roche and John Maldonado

DSFNL Commissioner’s Friday Night Lights

www.desertsandsfnl.com

John - 760 636-8266 Younger Grade Kinder through 4th Grade

Tom - 949 836-4753 Older Grades 5th - 10th Grade 

GAMES PLAYED AT Col Mitchell Paige

FUN - FUN - FUN - FUN - FUN - FUN - FUN

BEST YOUTH SPORTS EXPERIENCE PLAY WITH FRIENDS, AND MEET NEW PEOPLE

YOU WILL EVER HAVE !!

JOIN THE 30,000 KIDS WHO PLAY FNL FOOTBALL EACH YEAR!

**TONS OF FUN**

FRIDAY NIGHT LIGHTS-

ONE GOAL Keep it FUN!!!

7/8th Grade Bears-Coach Rob Tanner

5/6th grade Eagles Black Gold-Coach Mario Cadena

5/6th grade Cardinals Red- Coach Ryan Moscrop

3/4th grade 49ers Black Coach Albert Houge

1/2nd grade Cowboys white-Coach Troy Roberts

1) Chick-FIL-A meal award focuses on community service & academic excellence "off the field".

Here is how it works- Our DSFNL Parents and/or players inform their Coaches of any worthy community service and/or academic excellence. The Coach can select up to 1 player per week, per Team, to receive a “Free” Chic-A-Fil meal ticket. The honoree and their Coach need to stop by the FNL snack shack after their game to pick up the award.

2) HANDLES - award recognizes athletic excellence "on the field" of play

Here is how it works- Our Coaches will select up to 1 player per week, per Team, to receive a free Handles Ice Cream certificate for their standout performance and making players around them better. Stop by the FNL snack shack with your Coach to pick up your certificate, redeemable at all three locations. 

Thanks for all your support in making FNL the best youth sports league in in the Coachella Valley! Let’s keep it rolling and continue to assess what’s working and what’s not and provide us feedback so we can continuously improve and become even better!

Moving forward-

• Check scores and remember MAX score differential is 22pts. We reward defense points allowed not points scored. If game gets lopsided Referees are instructed to have a running clock, no time outs. We suggest twinning team takes the foot off the accelerator and run the ball with your slowest player. No need to humiliate the other team, win with class and teach compassion for others

Coaches coach, Players play, Referees Ref, and Parent cheer!  Control your sidelines!

Thank and keep it FUN!!!

John A. Maldonado and Tom Roche

Commissioner's Friday Night Lights

www.desertsandsfnl.com

Flag football is a ton of Fun and is one of the fastest growing sports in the USA. This season we have several NEW All Girls Teams will play on the same Friday Nights, and  same fields in our CoEd league. The female participation has dramatically increased especially now that  "Girls Flag Football is NOW an official CIF Sport". 

DesertSands Friday Night Lights goal is to become the primary feeder program for the Coachella Valley High Schools. The perfect target athlete is already participating in other girls sports ie: Soccer, track and field, Volleyball, and Basketball. Please let them know about our New All Girls Division.

• Girls’ grades K-8th
• Register NOW and Save $ -Fall season Aug-Nov
• Tons of FUN, non-contact
• Build you Team or sign up and play with friends!
• Teams of 6-8 
• No experience necessary
• For more information go to www.desertsands.com or call with questions 760 636-8266 John M.

Arrive hungry and support our growing Vendor partners!!!

• New- Chick-Fil-A
• New - Handles Ice Cream 
• Las Carretas Taco Shop
• E -Pel's Frozen Lemonade
• Pizza

• This is a district restriction and if violated we could lose our field use permits.

Share the spotlight-

Parents, If you want your kids to share the spotlight, please upload and share your action photos photos with our Social Media Director on Instagram as @fridaynightlights_dsusd or Facebook as @Desert Sands FNL

Plus... if your children have been recognized for academic or community excellence let us know and we will catch our Players doing things right!

Other important information:

• Upload championship pictures and video to our Social Media Director on Instagram as @fridaynightlights_dsusd or Facebook as @Desert Sands FNL ...Share action photos and any academic excellence awards
• Sponsor plaques are backordered and not expected to arrive until Jan/Feb. Our trophy supplier communicated to us that a component of the plaques is caught up in the supply chain crisis. Once they are ready, we will contact all our Teams to meet us at CMP to pick up you Sponsor Plaques.

 COACHING TIPS 

Remember the regular season is about Team development, “EVERYONE makes the PLAYOFFS”; so Keep it FUN!!

The impact you can make on this Community and this new generation can be life altering.   The Life lessons you teach will be much more enduring than your record.

Whether you like it or not you are role models.  Control your sidelines.  You set the tone for the Players, Parents, and ultimately the league; so win or lose, do it with Class. Demonstrate Good Sportsmanship, shake hands after every game, and genuinely thank the opponent for the opportunity to compete.

“New Spotlight Player award-  Coaches please be active nominating your players for Community, Academic or Athletic excellence!  Every week we will select an individual that best embodies the ideals we prize as a League. 

Lastly, Control you Sidelines Remind your Families: “Coaches Coach, Refs Ref, Players Play and Parents Cheer.  If we all stick to our roles we will have another Banner Season.

Disclaimer- Desert Sands Friday Night Lights Flag Football League is not affiliated with, endorsed, or sponsored by the school district.

www.cvopto.com

FNL

P.O. Box 11034

Palm Desert, CA 92255-1034

Join the 20,000 Kids who Play FNL Football

 Have any photos or videos that you want to share with us? 

Send to our SOCIAL MEDIA ACCOUNTS 

on Facebook  and/or Instagram