Youth Football Season is at an End

Well, Saturday was Round 2 of the playoffs in the Mobile Youth Football Conference (MYFC) for Peanut C (4 year olds) team. Officially it was Round 3, but the Peanut C teams didn't begin until last week so in my opinion it was Round 2. Anyhow, the boys had to play against West Mobile Buccaneers at Skidmore Park (also known as Saraland Park). We had to be there at 7:30am and the morning weather was not at all nice to us whatsoever. It was extremely cold. It wasn't cold as what I am us to during winter back home in Denver, Colorado but it was cold enough. On top of the cold weather, the day just didn't seem to go as any of us had hoped.


As I mentioned previously we were at the park by 7:30am. Surprisingly the park already had it's share of parents already there once we arrived which we had not seen all season. Usually when we arrived for a game there were very few parents there including the opposing team. Not sure if I could say the boys were fully awake. They looked like they were up, but not quite. However, regardless they did their best to prepare for the game. The plan was to give them hot coca to help them warm up. That plan didn't happen. Maybe it should have. LOL

The game started on time. Little Ernest for the second time was a team captain for the game and the boys did a great job holding the Buccaneers back during the first quarter. Parents were loud, cheering, and supportive from the very beginning. I don't think I had ever been as excited and nervous this football season as I was today.  Until the last minute of the 2nd quarter we had very high hopes our boys could win against West Mobile since they had beaten us twice before. But that one touchdown by the opposing team before half time gave us butterflies. After half time we realized that it just might not be possible for our boys to win the game.

It really didn't have anything to do with the boys really. Well, actually I think one child was sleepier than the others because it was on his side that they started getting touchdowns on. He refused tackle the boy with the ball at all. No. 11 just flew past him with absolutely no fight. I must also admit that it was a bit annoying that the other team did try to play a few cheap tricks to throw our boys off their game. At one point one of the West Mobile boy's was clearing holding with a referee in clear eye view. A touchdown that should have been brought back wasn't and we were a bit ticked off about that. If it wasn't for Ethan in under 3 minutes of the game I don't think we have gotten a point at all. The game ended with the score reading West Mobile Buccaneers 22 Cottage Hill Steelers 8. But it is all good. Although we we sad about the ending of the season, we were all proud of the hard work our boys have done. They didn't win but they played hard.

Personally I won't miss the 3 nights and 2 full hours of practicing week after week. Nor will I miss the waking up at 5:30am to be at a park by 7am for a game that begins at 8:30am. But I will miss the friendship I built with other moms and dads. I think our team had a great group of parents. I will miss the yelling and cheering on the sidelines. Miss watching Ernest get excited about every practice and every game. Even seeing Robert encourage and cheer his bother and the team on as they went to their weigh-ins and ran out on the field. It has been a great season and I am so glad that I was an active part of it all. Can't wait til next year already when Robert will begin his first year. We will have long game days then with occasional separate parks and watching all four boys play (Robert, Ernest, and my two nephews DJ and Man).

Speaking of my nephews, their game wasn't glorious at all. The ending score was Cottage Hill Steelers 12 Eight Mile Giants 36. Poor babies really didn't have their hearts into it. Plus having Navco Vikings parents behind them screaming and cheering loud for the other team didn't help much either. Navco was louder than Cottage Hill Peanut B parents and the Eight Mile Giants parents. I tried to encourage the boys who were sitting on the bench and he told me, "We're going to lose" and at the time they were ahead. What makes it so annoying and awful, in my opinion, was that Navco knew exactly what they were doing and were ruthless with it. Really? These are 5 year old children and they were simply being absolutely mean to these babies. You don't do that with youth league children. Am I sensitive about that? Yeah, but I have absolutely no respect for parents and teams that are that mean to children and cheap just for the sole purpose of winning a game.

GREAT JOB COTTAGE HILL STEELERS

PEANUT C AND PEANUT B!!!

SEE EVERYONE NEXT YEAR!!!