2003 Year in Review

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Pop Warner Football

How do you get 7-8 year olds to learn how to play tackle football? “Repetition,” according to their coach Bill Onken. They practice three days per week for two hours. That is how the Morrison’s Mighty-Mite and Pee Wee teams have gone to 7-0.

This is the first year for Pop Warner Football in the Sauk Valley area but it has been around since 1929. Morrison, Sterling, Rock Falls, and Dixon teams usually play at Sauk Valley College on an 80-yard field. They have a 9-game season, playing each team three times.

Five 7-8 year olds and thirteen 9-10 year olds play for Morrison. The team is also required to have cheerleaders. There are about 8 girls under Karen Norman’s guidance to cheer on the team.

Kevin Brunskill started the local league and after having several Morrison kids wanting to play including Onken’s girlfriend’s son Danny, Onken decided to coach a Morrison team and recruited more players. Because they ordered their uniforms late, they practiced without pads and could not play the first game without helmets.

Because the rules for Pop Warner football are tied into weight more than age, Onken played smaller 9-10 year old Pee Wee players on the 7-8 year old Mitey-Mites to make a full team. Fortunately the smallest Pee Wee players were also his best players. Recently the local league decided they would play an eight-man team instead of eleven, so before the game he had to scramble to teach plays to his key players.

The qualifications to play Pee Wee are 9, 10, and 11 year olds; they must be between 70-110 pounds, but a 12 year old can play as long as their weight is between 70-90 pounds. For Mitey-Mites, the requirements are 7-9 year olds weighing 45-85 pounds or 10 year olds weighing 45-65 pounds. The players may gain 1 pound per week up to 9 pounds and are weighed-in at every game. Player must also have an academic record of 2.0 to be eligible.

Mighty-Mites can be coached directly on the field while the Pee Wee team has to have plays brought in by players. They also get two points for kicking an extra point and only one for running the ball into the end zone. The Morrison team is the only team that has accomplished the two-point field goal locally. The teams have learned the basics of football around seven plays. Onken is currently teaching the 5th grade offense, so when this group starts 5th Grade Junior Tackle they will have the basics down and will be able to advance quicker. Larry Brown and Hal Schneider assist him.

Basically, the Pee Wee team has won the conference even though they have two more games to play. They play Saturday, November 1 at 10:30 and the Mighty-Mites play at 1:30, at Sauk Valley College against Dixon. Then next week they finish regular season against Rock Falls. They are hoping they can play a game in Morrison. Since there are no other local teams, they would have to travel to a Chicago suburb for the Regional game. There are currently 18 teams in the Chicago area. After watching the Leydon Bears recently, they found the competition is much harder. Their Pee Wee team is made up of more 11 and 12 year olds, so they might forfeit the next game November 19 in Bolling Brook to play a team closer to their abilities. The winner of the Regional Championship on November 29 heads to Disney’s Wide World of Sports Complex to play toward the Pop Warner Super Bowl.

Next year, the local league hopes to expand the teams to 7 or 8 and will be looking for new coaches to start teams. As for Bill Onken, he hopes to move up to Junior Tackle next year too.

by benson
2003-10-31 08:20:08