‘Cinderella’ team finishes 13-2, a game away from Division II
title game
LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla.
The Morgan Hill Midget Raiders’ run to the Pop Warner National Championships was a story fit for the event’s location, next to the Disney World campus in Orlando, Fla.
For two games at the ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex in nearby Lake Buena Vista, the Raiders became the Cinderella of the Division II tournament.
They joined the ranks of Butler and George Mason in men’s college basketball, and Boise State and TCU in football — underdog teams who have captured hearts but not the ultimate prize.
Morgan Hill settled for third in the nation. After pounding their way to dual titles in the Peninsula League and Pacific Northwest Region, the Raiders steam-rolled Wailuku, Hawaii, 24-8 Saturday to set up a semifinal billing fit for a Disney screenplay: Morgan Hill (pop. 33,500) versus Northeast, Md., of the greater Baltimore area.
Against a team featuring six kids measuring 6-feet-3 or taller Tuesday, the Raiders came within a defensive stop of taking over possession down by eight with about two minutes left. But the Chargers converted a key fourth-and-four, broke off a long touchdown run and ended Morgan Hill’s season by score of 20-6.
“Not a bad year, though, huh?” said Raiders coach Steve Sorce, whose team of eighth- and ninth-graders finished 13-2 and, by virtue of point differential, placed third ahead of West Haven, Conn. “It was definitely an emotional way to go out. It bust me up a little to see my 25 boys crying, but it was an incredible experience for them.”
Minutes after the game, Sorce received phone calls from the local ABC news affiliate and fielded questions for ESPN3.com. His Raiders were the first Morgan Hill team to reach the Pop Warner “Super Bowl” in 38 years and the first Pacific Northwest team to win its tournament opener in a decade.
With their rudimentary style of play — run between the tackles, throw when you have to, don’t give up anything — the Raiders earned respect from the Chargers, who today face Port St. Lucie, Fla., in the Division II championship.
“They were a class act,” Sorce said of Northeast. “Their players told us they’d never been hit like this.
“They were huge, but we hit them until they couldn’t breathe. They beat us with speed.”
The Chargers rode their powerful ground attack to a 14-0 lead before Morgan Hill scored in the third quarter on a backside run by Jesse Osuna. He benefited from key blocks by tight end Andrew Arnold and lead back Jacob LeDon.
Safety Frankie Gomez, who picked off two passes in the Raiders’ 28-0 region-final win over Douglas, Nev., had an interception to help keep Morgan Hill in the game.
The Raiders brought the house for the climactic fourth-and four, but it wasn’t enough.
“We almost stopped them,” Sorce said. “Who knows what might have been.”
Morgan Hill pounded the Rainbows on Saturday with LeDon providing an emphatic highlight, a bruising 22-yard run in which he broke three tackles.
The Raiders scored through the air this time. Quarterback Dalton Craig connected with Gomez on a 20-yard streak and a short fade to the corner of the end zone, and LeDon scored on a 40-yard screen pass from Craig.
“It was a 100-percent effort by all 25 kids,” Sorce said. “They gave me everything they had this week.”
