By Mike Finnerty
mike.finnerty@surewestsports.com
While the high school football regular season has now come to a close and opening round playoffs just days away, some of the youth football leagues in the area played their championship games Saturday.
The Sierra Football Conference, which includes 12 organizations, held their Division I championships at Cosumnes Oaks High School in Elk Grove.
The feature game of the day was a midget division batle between the #1 seed Sacramento Jr. Falcons and the host and #3 seed Cosumnes Oaks Jr. Wolfpack.
Weather certainly played a key part in this game as both teams came in with explosive offenses, but due to a steady downpour of rain, regulation would end in a 6-6 tie.
Overtime was needed to decide the winner, and with each team getting multiple shots to score from the 10-yard line, the score climbed to 14-14.
The game-winning score came on a 1-yard run to the left by Jaaron Stallworth where he was met at the line of scrimmage and then forced his way into the end zone for a touchdown giving the Jr. Wolfpack a 20-14 win to capture the midget title.
Cosumnes Oaks went up 6-0 early in the second on a Keoni Stallworth 2-yard run.
The Keoni Stallworth score would hold until late in fourth when Sacramento quarterback Caden Vogues rolled to his left and hit a wide open Elo Ballejos Jr. on a 7-yard touchdown pass to tie the game at 6-6 with 3:40 left.
SFC championship results:
Division I
Midgets - Cosumnes Oaks 20, Sacramento 14
Jr. Midgets – Cosumnes Oaks 26, Woodcreek 0
Pee Wee – Whitney 38, Folsom 0
Jr. Pee Wee – Folsom 27, Sacramento 19
Mighty Mite – Folsom 18, Cosumnes Oaks 0
Division II
Midgets – Rocklin 22, Ponderosa
Jr. Midgets – Del Oro 14, Rocklin 6
Pee Wee – Woodcreek 8, Cosumnes Oaks 6
Jr. Pee Wee – Del Oro 19, Cosumnes Oaks 6
Mighty Mite – Natomas 19, Sacramento 0
Sierra Football Conference organizations: Cosumnes Oaks, Del Oro, Folsom, Natomas, Oakmont, Oak Ridge, Ponderosa, Rocklin, Sacramento, Whitney, Woodcreek
SIERRA VALLEY/USA (SVUSA)
It was a good day for the Roseville Jr. Tigers program, a day that included two SVUSA titles, including a thrilling 26-22 win over the Lincoln Jr. Fighting Zebras for the Jr. Midget title.
Roseville running back Jay Razzano was a force on the offensive side all game long, scoring all four Jr. Tigers rushing touchdowns on the day.
Razzano put Roseville up 6-0 in the first on a 14-yard touchdown run, and that score would hold until Razzano found pay dirt again scoring from eight yards out with 1:02 left in the opening half to put Roseville up 12-0.
Lincoln cut the score to 12-8 before halftime, and it wouldn’t be until early in the fourth when Razzano would strike again, this time finding the end zone on a 7-yard run for a 20-8 Roseville advantage.
The big play ability of Lincoln’s offense showed itself in the third when quarterback Elijah Garcia connected on a 60-yard touchdown pass to Caleb Kettlehut. That kept the score close with Lincoln down by just four at 20-16.
Roseville came up with their third interception of the day when Nick Paleny picked off a pass at the 50 and returned it all the way to the Lincoln 1-yard line, setting up a Razzano run up the middle for his fourth touchdown of the game and a 26-16 Roseville lead with 6:44 left in the game.
Lincoln had no choice but to air it out for much of the fourth quarter, and that led to two more interceptions, one by Razzano and one by Hayden Simpson. It was Simpson’s pick at the Roseville 15-yard line, with under two minutes remaining, that was a big play in the game for the Jr. Tigers.
The Jr. Fighting Zebras scored one last time, but it in the end it was too much to overcome late in the game.
For Lincoln it was their first loss of the season, finishing at 9-1, and for Roseville they finish 8-2 and Jr. Midget champs.
SVUSA championship results:
Midgets – Del Campo 28, Granite Bay 16
Jr. Midgets – Roseville 26, Lincoln 22
Pee Wee – Lincoln 32, Woodcreek 12
Jr. Pee Wee – Roseville 32, Antelope 0
SVUSA organizations: Antelope, Bear River, Capital Christian, Del Campo, Granite Bay, Grant, Lincoln, Nevada Union, Placer, Roseville, Woodland