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Rockets ready for Cereal Bowl |
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Friday, 23 October 2009 |
By Greg Reedy
Sports Editor
The 9- and 10-year-old Ridgway Rockets are one win away from reaching a team goal set at the start of the season.
The Rockets wanted to win the CPYFL Championship game, dubbed "The Cereal Bowl" in front of its homestanding fans at Memorial Field in Ridgway and Saturday the Rockets get that chance against the DuBois Panthers at 2 p.m.
"Since the beginning of the CPYFL, there hasn't been a home team win on their home field," Ridgway coach Chet Gardner said. "We're definitely looking forward to it and the kids are definitely looking forward to it. Our goal was to make the championship and win it at home."
The Rockets' only loss of the season came on the opening Saturday, a 7-6 loss to the Panthers. Gardner said that loss ruined another team goal for the Rockets, going undefeated. However, he said the Rockets bounced back nicely.
"These guys didn't get down, they came to work the next week and they haven't looked back since," Gardner said. "They're definitely hungry, they want to avenge that loss. This team at the beginning of the year, we set team goals. One of their goals was to go undefeated and that first bump in the road, they definitely got through it. They worked harder and the results have shown it."
Ridgway followed with a 20-12 win over St. Marys Gold in week 2 and a 19-6 win over Reynoldsville in week 3. A 29-0 victory over Cameron County followed in week 4 and a 31-6 win over St. Marys Red in week 5 set the Elkers at 4-1.
The Rockets won a narrow 13-12 game against Johnsonburg in week 6 and took care of Kane 45-7 in week 7.
Ridgway won 20-7 against Treasure Lake in the regular season finale to take a 7-1 record and the No. 1 seed into the playoffs. The Rockets won 30-13 over Cameron County in the first round and 53-0 over St. Marys Gold in the semifinal to face DuBois in the championship.
"These 9- and 10-year-olds are real excited," Gardner said. "Last year, they lost in the second round of the playoffs. They're actually really excited, they'd want to play tonight. They can't wait until Saturday."
High school varsity head coach Mark Heindl said the entire program is excited with the success of the Rockets.
"We're very excited. That was one of our goals when we took the program over two years ago, we wanted to build that back up," Heindl said. "Chet Gardner and his staff have done a fantastic job of working with those fine young athletes. They've come a long way over a course of a year and then get a rematch against DuBois. We know they'll do a good job on Saturday."
Gardner said he has been impressed with how the Rockets have picked up different offenses.
"These kids have really come around. We've actually put in a spread offense this year," Gardner said. "These kids have learned three new offenses this year. We've run the varsity's power-I, we went to a spread formation that the varsity runs and now we're into a full-blown empty backfield."
Gardner said the Rockets do a great job of learning from the coaches, especially since teaching young football players complicated schemes can be difficult.
"Typically, it's very rough," Gardner said. "This year, it's been pretty easy. These kids make this coaching staff look really good."
On offense, Gardner hopes the players can set their tempo on offense.
"Offensively, were going to play our style of football which is a finesse game," Gardner said. "We're going to try and get to the edge sprinkled in with a couple passes."
Gardner said the Rockets are a fast bunch with a powerful offensive line.
"Speed at any level is the equalizer," Gardner said. "Our line hasn't got very much credit this year and if it wasn't for those five guys up front blocking six guys normally which doesn't sound logical, but these guys do it. We're big up front and we're fast in the skilled positions."
As the Rockets prepare for the final game of the season, Gardner said the players' maturity has stood out from this season.
"The maturity for a group of 9- and 10-year-olds and how well they play together as a team," Gardner said. "There's three or four guys on our offensive line that would be in most teams' backfields. They've stepped up and took pride in their offensive line positions."
Heindl said the learning at the young level is vastly important as the players progress through the levels of Ridgway football.
"The nice thing about it, the bottom level is so important," Heindl said. "They get that little bit of success there and they bring that all the way up through, Ridgway football's future is going to be pretty bright over the next couple years."
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