Last week, the Murfreesboro Parks and Recreation youth football league celebrated the end of the 2011 season with each team playing in a post-season bowl game.
Five were held this past Saturday at Siegel High, while next Saturday five more bowls will take place at the same location.
Lately, it seems the only time youth sports gets featured on the news is if something negative happens during the game or off the field.
For example, you could spend hours on the Internet watching clips of parents getting into fights during kids' games, or you will hear stories about league officials being accused of stealing money from the league like what happened in Gallatin last week.
Rightfully so, these issues need to be brought up when needed.
At the same time, there are still a lot of positives about youth sports, including what happened last week during one of the MFL bowl games.
The MFL did a great job of setting up each team, regardless of regular season record, in the post-season bowl games.
It gives the players a chance to finish the season on a positive note.
On Saturday, it was the Minor division (7- to 8-year-old age group) that decided a champion.
In the two previous years, the Chargers and Bears ended the season with a bowl victory.
This time, the showdown was between the Buccaneers and the Giants for the title.
During the regular season, the Bucs beat the Giants by a single point. The Bucs wanted to finish an undefeated year, while the Giants wanted payback for its only loss of the season.
Needless to say, the game lived up to the hype.
With less than a minute left in the third quarter, the Giants were near the end zone and looking to put away the game.
The Bucs caused a fumble in the end zone, and Zion Swader took it 104 yards for the touchdown.
It gave the Bucs a 24-19 lead, which was its first of the game.
They held on in the fourth, and earned an undefeated season.
Scores from all of last week’s games in down below in our weekly MFL recap.
Give credit to both teams for playing a great game, and each player gave it everything they had on the field.
The celebration after the game is one of the fun parts of my job.
Seeing a team, regardless of sport or age group, earn a championship and enjoy the moment is one of the best times in sports.
The Bucs were no different.
Each player received a trophy and a T-shirt from the league’s sponsor, GMC.
Then it was time to have the traditional season-ending pizza party.
What makes this story even greater was the team did not have a coach until a couple of weeks before the season started.
Brian Johnson was called into that role by the league, and it worked out well for the team.
“They have performed above and beyond our expectations,” Johnson said.
By the way, he was in his first year coaching youth football.
He also gave credit to all of the parents that were on his coaching staff during the season.
Credit needs to be given to all of the coaches in youth sports that spent the time and energy to help players become better as a person on and off the field.
League officials told me that several of the coaches here locally have been doing this for a long time in several sports.
That is great to see – and that is definitely just as newsworthy. |
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