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ENLARGE
The Nevada Union Junior Miner Mighty Mites have shown that they are the mightiest of the mighty mites when it comes to Junior Miner teams.
This year's Junior Miners will compete in Saturday's Sierra Youth Football & Cheer championship game Saturday, a feat no other Junior Miner Mighty Mites team has accomplished. And not only are they the first Mighty Mite team to advance to the title game, they also have won more games (six) than any other Junior Miner team in that division.
That's a far cry from the goal coach Mike Smith's set for the season.
“We usually win one (game) all season,” Smith said. “There was one year that the Junior Miners Mighty Mites won two games.”
Awaiting them will be the undefeated Junior Wildcats of Whitney for a 9 a.m. Sierra Foothill Division showdown at Bear River High School.
The 22 Junior Miners who will put on the pads, many which seem bigger than the players wearing them, are 6 to 8 years of age and come from Penn Valley, Chicago Park, Union Hill, Scotten and Camptonville communities. The Mighty Mite division is the entry level to the SYFC program, but this team will carry the Junior Miner banner come Saturday.
SYFC was founded in 2003, with a total of 10 associations with area high school football programs. The youth program has expanded to 18 associations for the 2009 season. Among those, programs such as Placer, Lincoln, Bear River and Nevada Union help comprise the Sierra Foothill League Division. The Sierra Valley Division includes programs such as Del Oro, Oak Ridge, Rocklin and Granite Bay. Members of the league, designed for athletes competing in five divisions between the ages of 6-14, serves as feeder programs for area high school teams.
Although they lost 28-12 to the Junior Wildcats (8-0) in the first meeting, that matchup dates back to the season-opener. Since that loss, the Junior Miners (6-2) have won six of seven games. Last week, the Junior Miners avenged one of their two losses with a 12-6 win over Lincoln in the first round. This week they hope to avenge the other.
“We will beat you guys,” Junior Miner tight end Conor Brown said when asked about this week's game. Brown, who is the team's leading receiver with three catches for 60 yards, wears receiver gloves just like NFL stars such as Terrell Owens.
“I was playing in a game and it was cold and raining so my mom bought them for me,” Brown said. “They work.”
Brown and his teammates have been working hard in practices all week long in preparation for their season finale.
“Whitney is well coached,” said Junior Miner coach Mike Smith. “They have 35 players and they are all bigger than my biggest guy.
“When we lost to Whitney, we had four plays in our playbook, now we have over 40.”
Leading the Junior Miners is 8-year-old quarterback Brandon Sorensen, who has four touchdowns on the season.
“Running back Dawson Fay has made most of our touchdowns,” Smith said. “Grady Belendez and Dillon Roberts have been positive players for us all season.”
Another top player is 8-year-old middle linebacker Ayrton Swazey, who will be in charge of stopping Whitney's ground attack out of the “Wildcat” offensive formation. Swazey says he likes Whitney's team, but also likes the way he plays.
“I play good,” Swazey said. “I tackle well.”
Both Bear River and Nevada Union fielded teams at all five levels of play this fall. In the Junior PeeWee division, the Junior Miners (3-3) took fifth place, while the Junior Bruins (1-6) finished seventh. The Junior Miners PeeWees (4-3) finished fourth, while the Junior Bruins (2-5) took sixth in that division. At the Junior Midget level, the Junior Bruins (3-4) finished fourth, while the Junior Miners (2-5) were seventh. And in the Midget division, the Junior Miners (5-2) finished third and the Junior Bruins (4-3) were fourth.
Last week's opening round of the playoffs saw the Junior Miners fall 27-26 in the Midget division, while Bear River lost to the Junior Bruins of Ponderosa 40-0. The Junior Bruins also lost to Ponderosa 38-0 at the Junior Midget level. At the PeeWee division, Ponderosa's Junior Bruins beat NU's Junior Miners 27-12.
That leaves the Junior Miner Mighty Mites as western Nevada County's last team standing.
“I'm really excited,” said Junior Miners President Troy Spangler. “It's the first time for (the Mighty Mites), but I'm proud of all of our teams. We had three teams in playoffs and the Midgets ended up losing by one in overtime. The PeeWees played their best game, but just had a couple of bad breaks.
“Like I said, I'm proud of all of them, the Mighty Mites especially. Mike and his coaching staff have done just a great job with these kids. Making it to the championship game, that's a huge accomplishment.”
For more information on the Sierra Youth Football & Cheer program, visit the Web site www.syfc.us
Scott P. Hopper is a sports writer for The Union. Contact him via e-mail at sphopper@theunion.com or by phone at 477-4231.
This year's Junior Miners will compete in Saturday's Sierra Youth Football & Cheer championship game Saturday, a feat no other Junior Miner Mighty Mites team has accomplished. And not only are they the first Mighty Mite team to advance to the title game, they also have won more games (six) than any other Junior Miner team in that division.
That's a far cry from the goal coach Mike Smith's set for the season.
“We usually win one (game) all season,” Smith said. “There was one year that the Junior Miners Mighty Mites won two games.”
Awaiting them will be the undefeated Junior Wildcats of Whitney for a 9 a.m. Sierra Foothill Division showdown at Bear River High School.
The 22 Junior Miners who will put on the pads, many which seem bigger than the players wearing them, are 6 to 8 years of age and come from Penn Valley, Chicago Park, Union Hill, Scotten and Camptonville communities. The Mighty Mite division is the entry level to the SYFC program, but this team will carry the Junior Miner banner come Saturday.
SYFC was founded in 2003, with a total of 10 associations with area high school football programs. The youth program has expanded to 18 associations for the 2009 season. Among those, programs such as Placer, Lincoln, Bear River and Nevada Union help comprise the Sierra Foothill League Division. The Sierra Valley Division includes programs such as Del Oro, Oak Ridge, Rocklin and Granite Bay. Members of the league, designed for athletes competing in five divisions between the ages of 6-14, serves as feeder programs for area high school teams.
Although they lost 28-12 to the Junior Wildcats (8-0) in the first meeting, that matchup dates back to the season-opener. Since that loss, the Junior Miners (6-2) have won six of seven games. Last week, the Junior Miners avenged one of their two losses with a 12-6 win over Lincoln in the first round. This week they hope to avenge the other.
“We will beat you guys,” Junior Miner tight end Conor Brown said when asked about this week's game. Brown, who is the team's leading receiver with three catches for 60 yards, wears receiver gloves just like NFL stars such as Terrell Owens.
“I was playing in a game and it was cold and raining so my mom bought them for me,” Brown said. “They work.”
Brown and his teammates have been working hard in practices all week long in preparation for their season finale.
“Whitney is well coached,” said Junior Miner coach Mike Smith. “They have 35 players and they are all bigger than my biggest guy.
“When we lost to Whitney, we had four plays in our playbook, now we have over 40.”
Leading the Junior Miners is 8-year-old quarterback Brandon Sorensen, who has four touchdowns on the season.
“Running back Dawson Fay has made most of our touchdowns,” Smith said. “Grady Belendez and Dillon Roberts have been positive players for us all season.”
Another top player is 8-year-old middle linebacker Ayrton Swazey, who will be in charge of stopping Whitney's ground attack out of the “Wildcat” offensive formation. Swazey says he likes Whitney's team, but also likes the way he plays.
“I play good,” Swazey said. “I tackle well.”
Both Bear River and Nevada Union fielded teams at all five levels of play this fall. In the Junior PeeWee division, the Junior Miners (3-3) took fifth place, while the Junior Bruins (1-6) finished seventh. The Junior Miners PeeWees (4-3) finished fourth, while the Junior Bruins (2-5) took sixth in that division. At the Junior Midget level, the Junior Bruins (3-4) finished fourth, while the Junior Miners (2-5) were seventh. And in the Midget division, the Junior Miners (5-2) finished third and the Junior Bruins (4-3) were fourth.
Last week's opening round of the playoffs saw the Junior Miners fall 27-26 in the Midget division, while Bear River lost to the Junior Bruins of Ponderosa 40-0. The Junior Bruins also lost to Ponderosa 38-0 at the Junior Midget level. At the PeeWee division, Ponderosa's Junior Bruins beat NU's Junior Miners 27-12.
That leaves the Junior Miner Mighty Mites as western Nevada County's last team standing.
“I'm really excited,” said Junior Miners President Troy Spangler. “It's the first time for (the Mighty Mites), but I'm proud of all of our teams. We had three teams in playoffs and the Midgets ended up losing by one in overtime. The PeeWees played their best game, but just had a couple of bad breaks.
“Like I said, I'm proud of all of them, the Mighty Mites especially. Mike and his coaching staff have done just a great job with these kids. Making it to the championship game, that's a huge accomplishment.”
For more information on the Sierra Youth Football & Cheer program, visit the Web site www.syfc.us
Scott P. Hopper is a sports writer for The Union. Contact him via e-mail at sphopper@theunion.com or by phone at 477-4231.
