Rec Sports
PLANT CITY DOLPHINS WIN NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP
Undefeated 8 and under team has a 21-0 record.
Steve Marshall served in the Army for 14 years, including deployments to the Horn of Africa and Syria, then left in 2024. He is currently a Fire Medic with Hillsborough County Fire Rescue.
When he returned from Syria, he began coaching to share the experience of football with his six-year-old son. In May 2025, he heard that a head coach position had opened up for the Plant City Dolphins. He had never been a head coach, but he applied and got the role. Marshall’s goal for the boys: “I want them to push themselves through adversity, play as a family, protect each other, and have fun loving the game of football.”
The season started in June. The Dolphins won two preseason jamboree games, then went 10-0 during their season, winning the Tri-County Division Championship by beating the Dover Patriots in Dover. In the subsequent playoffs, they won both games, then won the Tri-County Superbowl. The team also won two games to emerge victorious in the Strawberry Jam Tournament. This made the team 17-0.
As a result of this success, the Plant City Dolphins were allowed to put together an invitation-only team to compete in the United Youth Football League National Championship. There, the team won all four games, ending the season 21-0. In the championship, the Dolphins defeated a team from Cleveland by scoring in the last minute, and holding the line on a 4th-and-1. “Their execution was fantastic, so they didn’t look like little seven-year-olds and eight-year-olds,” Marshall said. “They looked like little men, the way they played football. Our quarterback is the best 8U player in the country. He can throw a football 50 yards.”
During the season, the boys on the team scored 529 points while allowing only 25 points, and had 18 shutouts. “I know this season put a lot of core memories in these kids forever,” Marshall commented. “They’ll never forget it.”
This success didn’t come without hard work. The team practiced twice a week. Including games and watching film, the coaches put in at least 14 hours a week, and some spent even more time watching film. Marshall gave enormous credit to his coaching staff, praising his phenomenal offensive, defensive, and assistant coaches. “You never know you can do something until you finally do it,” Marshall said. “I never thought that after seven months of coaching, that I would find myself winning a National Championship. You always think you have a championship team, but to be gifted one like I was, and have the coaching staff I did…some of them would drive eight hours on practice days. To have the group we had, the parents we had, the kids we had. It was a perfect storm to make this happen. It takes a village to make this happen, and we had the perfect village. These kids got these rings and these trophies, and it is a beautiful thing.”