Football tournament raises awareness of drug abuse

When he was growing up, Brian Balzer of Mastic Beach often could be seen sprinting around the baseball fields of the Moriches Sports Complex with his father and his teammates.

Saturday morning, Eddie Balzer and a bunch of his late son's friends took to the same fields for a flag-football tournament in memory of Brian, a 2005 graduate of William Floyd High School who died last year, at age 22, of a heroin overdose.

The second annual tournament brought more than 250 friends, relatives and flag-football enthusiasts to the complex on Moriches Middle Island Road in Moriches. In addition to his father, Brian's entire immediate family was on hand: his mother, Cindy, 53; brothers, Patrick, 29, and Eddie, 20, and sister, Samantha, 25.

The daylong tournament's goal was to increase awareness about drug abuse on Long Island and raise money for Brian's Army, a newly formed nonprofit organization founded by the Balzer family that will award scholarships at the end of the school year to students who meet certain criteria.

"Balzer was an athlete," said Joe Kusen, 23, of Mastic Beach, who said he had known Brian since age 4 and played varsity football with him. "The fact that we got every athlete out here that we could possibly imagine, it's great." Kusen's team finished the day with a record of 3-1.

Brian's family Saturday recalled his struggles with drugs and his eventual addiction: He started smoking marijuana in 11th grade, his father and brother Patrick said. After graduating from high school, he went on to use prescription medications and then heroin. That addiction eventually led to a drug-related arrest and, in early 2009, 30 days of court-ordered rehabilitation, which he underwent at Charles K. Post Addiction Treatment Center in Brentwood. After his discharge in February 2009, he overdosed that October while on probation.

Last year's tournament was a hurried affair, held three weeks after Brian's death, with participation by 19 teams. This year's tournament drew 26 teams.

Players bundled in sweatshirts and thermal wear, with red and blue flags dangling from their waists, barreled across the complex's four fields, which were designated by white paint and cones. Brookhaven Councilman Dan Panico acted as a guest referee."We're turning my son's death into something positive," said Eddie Balzer, 53, of Mastic Beach. Since Brian's death, Balzer has made presentations in schools in both Suffolk and Nassau counties; he estimated he has spoken to nearly 8,000 students.

At those events, Eddie Balzer retells his son's battle with drugs and urges them to choose a different path.

"His message is, Brian came from a good, middle-class family, and he's the new face of heroin," said Patrick Balzer, who lives in Astoria, Queens.

Among those participating Saturday was a team of faculty and alumni from William Floyd, where Brian was an honor student, a member of the varsity baseball team all four years, and a nominee for homecoming king.

Earlier this month, the school district announced a plan to open a substance abuse treatment clinic at the high school. The facility would be the first of its kind in the state.

"It's an epidemic across Long Island and across the country," said Samantha Balzer, a registered nurse from Mastic Beach. "Addiction isn't prejudiced."