Allegheny Valley Youth Football League to crown 2021 champions
The Allegheny Valley Youth Football League has scheduled its annual Super Bowl Saturday for Lernerville Field, located adjacent to Lernerville Speedway in Buffalo Township.
The first game of the championship tripleheader will take place at 11 a.m. between the Lower Burrell Recruits (10-0) and Plum (9-1) in the 8-and-under division.
Game 2 is at 1 p.m. and will feature Lower Burrell (10-0) against the 8-2 RYFO (Rams Youth Football Organization of Highlands) to decide the title in the 10-and-under division (135 pounds).
At 3 p.m., the championship will be decided in the 12-and-under division (160 pounds) with Freeport (10-0) taking on RYFO (9-1).
In the youngest group, Lower Burrell will be seeking its third straight title, riding a 22-game win streak. What’s impressive is that there is considerable turnover in that age group.
“I can remember our last loss: It was Oct. 5, 2019,” Recruits coach Josh Pollino said. “We lost eight starters from last season’s team. We’re pleased to have been blessed with good athletes. It’s a group effort across the board.”
Pollino is in his fourth year of coaching the Lower Burrell team, his second as a head coach.
A challenge for a youth football coach is to not stray away from simple plays with that age group.
Said Pollino: “We like to run some reverses and you can teach some things, but it can come to speed around the corners.”
Nearly all of the Recruits players are from the Burrell School District. Pollino indicated there are a handful of players over the years from other areas where communities don’t have youth football or temporarily have shut down their programs.
The Allegheny Valley Youth Football League is operated by a board of directors.
The president this year is Jim Newcomer, the vice president is Shawn Mele of Lower Burrell, the secretary is Vince Shotting of Ford City and the treasurer is Matt Petruzzi of Deer Lakes.
The league emphasizes team play and sportsmanship. Individual statistics are not kept by the organization.
George Guido is a Tribune-Review contributing writer.
Remove the ads from your TribLIVE reading experience but still support the journalists who create the content with TribLIVE Ad-Free.