Napoleon, Tarpon Springs claim second-straight EAFL championship

Congratulations, Roman!

For the second-straight year, Roman Napoleon’s Tarpon Springs (Fla.) Pirates captured the Elite American Football League (EAFL) Class AAA championship, topping Georgia-based Cherokee County in Elite Bowl V, 27-10, on June 27 in Savannah, Georgia.

The Pirates beat Cherokee County in both seasons for the EAFL title, having bested the Bruins, 27-21, a year earlier in Lakeland, Fla. It was the first time in league history that a franchise claimed back-to-back league crowns. Napoleon, a safety/linebacker, was once again one of the team’s top contributors, earning Defensive Most Valuable Player honors in the championship contest.

The EAFL is a semi-professional (or adult amateur) tackle football league. According to its website, it functions as a minor-league organization where players typically compete without receiving major professional salaries, but teams operate at a highly competitive, organized level across states like Florida, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi and Tennessee.

Before the EAFL season began, Tarpon Springs was invited to play in the prestigious National Bowl Weekend event in Central Florida in January. The Pirates beat the Glass City Tigers (Ohio) in a shootout, 48-34, to win the Tangerine Bowl. That moved Tarpon Springs’ record to 3-0 in National Bowl Weekend games, including victories in 2013 and ’23.

From there, the Pirates got off to an 8-0 start in league play, which marked the best start in program history and was capped by a record-setting 81-0 triumph over the West Coast Warriors. Napoleon’s team later handled the Duval Raiders, 49-7, in the Elite South Conference championship game before again getting the best of Cherokee County in the EAFL final.

Tarpon Springs’ postseason accomplishments have now led to another opportunity. The Pirates were invited to compete in the Sunshine Bowl Spring Nationals 2026 event on Aug. 2 in Washington, D.C. They’ll represent the EAFL in a high-level interstate matchup against an opponent from New Jersey.

Napoleon, an NES bearing engineer, works remotely for the company from his Tampa-area home.