The Berlin Redcoats not only hosted the Fifth Annual Lineman Challenge Saturday behind Berlin High School but dominated in winning five of the 10 events over the visiting 33 teams with a score of 43 points. The lower the point total the better. Southington came in second with 69 points.
Berlin I took first place in the Tire Toss, One Man Sled Relay, Tire Flip Relay, Crab Sled Relay and Tug-O-War. No other team won more than one event.
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The Annual Lineman Challenge is the brain child of Berlin assistant football coach Jon Paul Demko. It tests the teams of six linemen with 10 strongman type events.
What started simply as a way to get linemen to get together and get ready for the upcoming football season has turned into a huge success for the Berlin football program.
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Four years ago, line coach Demko started the Lineman Challenge and 10 teams came to Berlin High School for a competition that is part football drills and part world’s strongest man.
“The skill guys have their 7 on 7 drills and camps but the linemen just have the weight room,” Demko said. “We wanted to get the linemen into the weight room and off the couch. We wanted them to get out and moving and competing. I found this on the web as something they do in Texas so we decided to try it.”
Demko said the event gets the team’s competitive juices flowing.
“We are coaching our kids and any time we can put them in a competitive situation is always a positive,” Demko said. “I coach the linemen so it’s a little more personal to me. I’m a little closer to the linemen than any of the other players on the team. These are all voluntary, never mandatory, so we’re looking forward to it and looking forward to a positive result Saturday.”
Each team has six players plus one sub.
Southington finished second and won the heavy bag event. The Knights also were strong with third place finishes in the Bench Press, and the Crab Sled Relay.
Rocky Hill came in 18th in the competition. The Terriers top finish was a third place in the Agility event.
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