Coming off a successful season last fall, the Arlington Youth Football Club is looking forward to more good things in the upcoming 2026 campaign as competition begins next month.
Practice began for the league on Aug. 11. Games are scheduled to kick off Saturday, Sept. 12 at Wakefield High School from 3-9 p.m. The season runs until early November.
The league, which has some 90 players signed up, has teams at six different age levels from 7 to 14. Registration for all players is open through Sept. 2.
“We would love to have more players,” league commissioner Emily Lyons said.
More coaches for the league are also needed.
The league recently held a championship ring ceremony to honor the 2025 Arlington Youth Football Club Arlington Admirals middle-school-age team. That squad finished 9-0 last fall and won the Varsity Central Division playoff championship of the Northern Virginia Youth Football League.
The Admirals were the first squad from the club to win such a tackle football title since a 100-pound Admirals squad did the same in 2015.
“This is a really big deal and a huge thing. This league has been fighting tooth and nail to win this kind of championship,” Lyons told ARLnow last year. “It proves hard work has paid off.”
The 2025 Admirals were coached by Kevin Shaw, now also an assistant coach for the Bishop O’Connell High School varsity football program while remaining the Arlington Youth Football Club vice commissioner. Players from that Admirals team are now on high-school team rosters at Wakefield, Washington-Liberty, Yorktown and Bishop O’Connell high schools.
While Arlington Public Schools hosts a number of sports at the middle-school level, there is no football program. Local private schools also do not offer middle-school football.
The league’s 2025 Player of the Year was Grier Lyons, who was also honored recently. Lyons, who will be a Gunston Middle School eighth-grader this fall, led his team in nearly every statistical category that mattered on both sides of the ball.
Beyond the field, Lyons was an honor-roll student and is involved in numerous non-sports activities, including Boy Scouts, National Honor Society and choir. He also umpires Arlington Little League baseball games and plays multiple sports in addition to football.
The other finalists in consideration for the award were Lincoln Epstein, Colton Shaw, Lawson Churchill and James Wilson.
Also recently honored by the Arlington Youth Football Club was longtime program coach Duane Tigney. The award recognizes an individual’s strong commitment to the club, its culture and its legacy.
Tigney has been involved with the league for six years.
“Duane is so positive with the kids and he is always there,” Emily Lyons said. “He never shows up to a practice or a game without a carload of players who needed a ride or couldn’t find another way there. He has really helped the program grow.”
Tigney was a standout varsity high-school football player in Arlington for the Yorktown Patriots. He then played in college at Morehead State University.
“He has believed in this club, and believed in Arlington football’s role in our community, and the importance of our team ethos, growth and potential,” Emily Lyons said.
