Mogadore Youth Varsity wins Midwest National Championship  Dec 01, 2009

Over Thanksgiving weekend 2009, the Mogadore Youth Varsity Football team and cheerleaders participated in the Midwest National Youth Football Championships in Cleveland.

On Friday, the Wildcats faced the Grove City Knights from Columbus, who they defeated 14-6 at Cuyahoga Heights. Saturday started at 12:30 P.M. against Central Penn from Pennsylvania. In this game, played at Perry high school, the Wildcats held on at the end and won 14-7. Central Penn had not lost a game in 2 years.

The national championship finale of the 8 team field was held at the Collinwood Athletic Complex in Cleveland, Saturday evening at 7:30. Mogadore squared off against the Warrensville Heights Cowboys in a great game. The Cowboys took the lead on their first possession 6-0 and the Cats countered after the ensuing kick-off to tie the score 6-6 after the first. After recovering a fumble late in the second quarter, the Cats marched 80 yards to take a 12-6 halftime lead. The Cowboys tied the score 12-12 in the second half and appeared to be driving to take the lead when, with 3:50 to go in the game, Mogadore recovered a Cowboy fumble on the Cat's own 18 yard line. The Cats drove all the way down the field to score with 25 seconds left. The extra point was good and the Wildcats won the Midwest National Championship 20-12.

The team raised funds in a variety of ways for this trip. A spaghetti dinner was held with an auction of gift baskets.  The boys and girls went 'tagging' door to door and 'canning' outside local businesses and at the High School play-off game. As always, our local businesses and organizations donated money and/or items for our basket auction. The generosity of all of these businesses and organizations, as well as the people of Mogadore, is immense and greatly appreciated by everyone involved in this trip.

One unique donation came from the Lion's club. The club asked that the boys help unload Christmas trees and showing the dedication they showed all year, they showed up at 7:00 A.M. in the rain and unloaded 250 trees in 45 minutes!  The club rewarded their efforts generously.  

Our boys and girls were complemented on their behavior at the hotel and at every venue they went to. They showed maturity and respect befitting champions both on the field and off. They truly represented their community well. Our crowds were loud and supportive of the boys and girls , outnumbering every team we played 10 to 1 in fan support.

This was a great experience for these kids, and one that they will never forget.

Thom Rosato