AA Gold squad gears up for title game

Photo courtesy of Roger Schultz

Far from it.

The undefeated squad is playing for the Double A Six Rivers Youth Football title on Sunday at the Redwood Bowl at Humboldt State University in Arcata.

What makes this situation unique is that they are facing the undefeated DNYF Double A Blue team.

It is the first time ever that two local programs have faced each other for a division title in youth football.

Head coach Danny Forkner admits that this is quite a one-of-a-kind situation that these 11-and 12-year-olds are facing.

Here they are undefeated and one game away from their goal of winning a title and across the field will be their friends and classmates.

Forkner said that while he knows there will be some smack talk at school, he has emphasized to his team to always be respectful of their opponents and to understand that they are all friends, schoolmates and neighbors.

“It’s going to be pretty fun,” guard Caleb Cross said, adding that he is is excited to see how they fare for the first time against the Blue team. During the regular season the teams do not meet.

“There’s going to be a lot of Del Norte fans cheering for both of us,” Cross said. “It’s just pretty cool.”

Forkner said he’s quite excited that out of the 13 teams that play in Double A the two squads that remain are from Del Norte

“It shows you how strong the  youth football program is here,”  he said. “It’s such a huge accomplishment for our program. I couldn’t be more proud.”

The Gold team received a first round bye and last Sunday took down the Redwood Knights in Ferndale 28-0. Ironically, facing Hoopa in Crescent City, the Blue team won by the exact same score.

While he is good friends with the AA Blue coaches and hopes they have a great game, Forkner said both teams will go out, do their best and see which squad comes up with the victory in the end.

“I want them to do well but at the end of the day we want to have one more point,” he said.

Clayton Garman, who plays on both offense and defense said it “feels great” to have made it this far and to play the only other undefeated team, which just so happens to be the other local squad.

“It’s going to be a great battle,” he said. “We’re both good teams. We’re all pumped up and ready to go.”

While both squads are strong in all aspects of the game on both sides of the ball, Forkner said that in the end, it will come down to execution.

He believes the team that can execute its game plan the best, not get flustered and keeps mistakes like turnovers and penalties to a minimum will have an advantage.

Forkner encourages the local fans to come out and root for both teams this Sunday in Arcata at Humboldt State University. The contest begins at 11:30 a.m. The A title contest starts at 9 a.m.

“Hopefully everyone from Del Norte will come out,” he said.