Hoffman Redhawks grab second straight Pop Warner title
The Hoffman Estates Redhawks football team might easily have taken offense at some of the pre-game attitude of its opponent in the Pop Warner Division II Pee Wee National Championship game in Orlando, Florida.
Instead, when it hit the field, it turned on its offense. As a result, its 30-20 win against the Brick City Lions of New Jersey has its fans filled with visions of a dynasty.
The win gave the Redhawks their second straight title.
"These boys are outstanding young men," said coach Rick Cyr of Elk Grove Village.
The victory was even sweeter for the team, considering Brick City's display of pre-game swagger - which came after the Lions roared into the finals by shutting out two successive opponents and exceeding 30 points in each contest.
"We came into the game against a Brick City team that was talking, really wanted to get after us, get in our head," he said. The Brick City players were dishing out a little pre-game smack at Disney's All-Star Sports Resort food court and arcade, he said.
But when it came time to play, his boys settled down and did their jobs to defend their title.
"It's a machine. They just start clicking. They get to the second level. Everybody does their job and good things happen," Cyr said.
The game, he said, was won on the offensive and defensive line.
"It was a 100 percent team effort, not just one individual player," he said.
Cyr said repeating as champions called for extra effort.
"All of our conditioning doubled up. All of our reps doubled up. We had to work extra hard this year," he said.
To get to the championship game, Hoffman Estates had to beat the Gilbert-Chandler (Arizona) Bruisers 24-8 in the first round.
In the second round, the Redhawks shut out the Parkland (Florida) Rangers 24-0.
Brick City entered the championship game after pitching successive shutouts against the East Vancouver (Washington) Venom 39-0 and the Mount Hope (Rhode Island) Cowboys 35-0.
"We only had three days to put in the game plan, and the kids just did what they needed to do, as far as changing up the defense, changing up the coverage, changing up a scheme," defensive coordinator Bill Kirkwood said.
Kirkwood said middle linebacker Jaden Yates contributed some key tackles, while defensive end Mitch Lingle also made a significant contribution.
Kirkwood gave the Lions some credit.
"This was a good team from New Jersey," he said. "They could play."
One of the players, offensive left guard Vincent Barbato, gave Brick City some props, too. "It was a good challenge for our team," he said.
"It's a pretty cool thing," Barbato, 13, said of the repeat.
He was on last year's championship squad as well. "It's definitely an amazing team we have.
"All the teams out here tried really hard. They all put up a good competition."
Cyr gave credit to his coaching staff, which included Gregg Kirkwood, Blake Polony, Jared Polony, Chris Coalson and Mark Coalson, as well as to the team president, Mark Mueller.
"All of those coaches came up through the Hoffman program and were coached by Bill Kirkwood Sr. A homegrown, family thing," Cyr said. "That's what this is."