SPRING MILLS — Young football players battled it out on the gridiron at Penns Valley High School on Oct. 9 during “Tackle Cancer,” a special Youth Football League fundraiser for the American Cancer Society.
All proceeds from raffles of T-shirts and several items donated by parents, coaches and local businesses, as well as a 50-50 raffle, went to ACS. A busy food stand, supervised by Amy Crawford, earned money for the Penns Valley teams.
The Penns Valley Rams youth football team is one of nine teams from Mifflin, Juniata, Huntingdon and Centre counties in the Juniata Valley Football League. There were actually two games — one in the Pee Wee division (ages 7 to 9) and one in the Midget division (ages 10 to 12). The Rams faced the Mifflin County Little Huskies teams, coming away with a 13-7 loss in the Pee Wee division and a solid 47-14 win in the Midget division.
Players on these teams range in age from 7 to 12. The games are played following Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletics Association rules, and are overseen by certified PIAA officials. Each game consists of four eight-minute quarters, and extra points after touchdowns must be either running or passing plays — no kicks. A run scores one point and a pass nets two. Blitzing the quarterback and rushing the kicker on a fourth-down punt are prohibited.
Penns Valley Midget Division head coach John Crawford said the Penns Valley team was formed in 2014, having evolved from a flag football program in the valley. The Rams Pee Wee head coach is Don Page.
Even though the players were small, they generated some big excitement in their games, including an 80-yard touchdown run by Rams pee wee player Carson Webster.
Of course, when you have a football game, you need cheerleaders, and there were squads of them on both sides of the field, cheering on the players and spectators all afternoon. According to Crawford, Penns Valley cheerleading coach Kelly Brungart originated the idea of making the games a fundraiser for the ACS. Rams cheerleaders were wearing pink socks and shaking pink pom-poms for breast cancer awareness. Some players on both teams also donned pink socks.
