History is being made this week on the Southwest Florida gridiron. For the first time ever, the Peace River Pop Warner conference sent five of their teams to the Pop Warner Super Bowl in Orlando and four of them made it to the semifinals.
On Tuesday morning, the Cape Coral Junior Sharks took the field at Camping World Stadium facing Mentors of Tomorrow. Dennis Perry's 12U squad had quite the season, going undefeated throughout the regular season. The Sharks lost in the regional tournament, but got invited to play in the Pop Warner Super Bowl anyways. The Sharks defeated the Coastal Panthers 39-14 in the first round and advanced to the Division II 12U semifinals, but ended up falling short to the M.O.T. Cowboys 47-37.
For the first time in its 31 year history, the Naples Hurricanes won the Southwest Regional Championship and secured a spot in the national tournament. The Canes are also back-to-back-to-back Peace River Conference champions. The 13U team has been playing together for the past four years, some even playing in the organizations since they were on the "Tiny Mites" squad. Jerry Craft's team picked up a win in the first round of the Division II 13U tournament shutting out the 719 Outlaws 32-0, then crushed the Plainfield Saints 39-6 in the semifinals. The Hurricanes will play in the title game on Friday, December 13 at 5:30pm.
In Division I, the Fort Myers Falcons 12U team took the field at Camping World Stadium looking to make history. The Falcons had also fallen in the regional tournament, but were invited to play in the Super Bowl. Mac Young's team shut out the Enon Eagles 25-0, but fell short in the semifinals 25-7 to the Hartford Hurricanes.
And finally, the 11U Fort Myers Firecats are still chugging along in the Division I tournament. This team, who has been playing together for two years, are winner of the last two conference championships and picked up their first regional title this season. Kelby Tyre's team took down the Coastal Cowboys in the first round 38-12 and then came out on top on Wednesday afternoon against the Abbington Raiders 34-19. The Firecats will play for the title on Saturday, December 14 at 1pm.