It's Sunday and that means football is top of mind for fans and athletes who enjoy playing the sport.

Local teams without the helmets met in Youngstown Sunday to play for the Northeast Ohio Flag Football League Championship.

After 10 weeks, the season comes down to one day where the top team in league takes home the trophy.

It's a growing Sunday tradition in the Mahoning Valley, where former athletes keep their talents alive by working it out on the field each weekend.

"At my age, it's just fun to be competitive and active and keep doing what you used to do when you were younger," said John Burd, former Austintown football player and now Austintown Middle School coach.

The league is in its 10th season and next year, it plans to recruit women for its first female league.

"We started in 2009, we had probably eight or nine teams," said Jesse Hardin organizer of the league. 

The game is played with eight on eight, it's a contact sport, where they don't allow flag guarding. Teams travel from as far as Cleveland and Pittsburgh each year.

To fill their rosters, local athletes are recruited from all levels of the game, from high school and college to semi pro to even former players in the NFL.

"Football just brings people together, I mean it's a group of people, 22 on a team usually, so it's an opportunity for them to come together," said Anthony Floyd, former safety for the Indianapolis Colts in 2003 and 2004.

Their weekend games turn fields like Bailey Park in Youngstown, into a gathering place, where it's not as much about the plays and the final prize as is forming friendships and staying active.