Brookfield Bobcats Jr. Pee Wees Win Northern CT Division II Championship

From Brookfield Pop Warner Football:

It remains true at all levels of football, from the NFL down to Pop Warner, that commitment, dedication and teamwork wins games.

The Brookfield Pop Warner Junior Pee Wee Bobcats have spent the last seven weeks proving that adage. In their biggest game of the season, they certainly delivered.

The Brookfield Bobcats beat WaterOak, 14-12, to capture the Northern Connecticut Division II Conference Championship Title on Sunday, November 8th, 2015 at New Fairfield High School. It was the latest defensive effort for the Bobcats, who rebounded from a tough start to the season to become conference champions.

With nine minutes left in the first half, the Quarterback, Caden Borges, handed the ball off to Drew Martin who executed a reverse play to Matthew DeStefano who ran 50 yards to score the first touchdown for Brookfield. Jackson Breuels’ kick for the two point conversion was good, putting Brookfield on the board 8-0.

Jake Micelli intercepted the ball late in the first half setting Brookfield up on the 15 yard line. The entire offensive team scored the second touchdown for the Bobcats as they all pushed the pack on the 1-yard line allowing Caden Borges to add another 6 points to the board, giving Brookfield the lead at halftime with a score of 14-0.

Defensive Coordinator Dave Cacace said getting the early lead was key. “It helped our defense a lot, to give us that momentum going into the second half,” Cacace said. With 3 1/2 minutes left in the game, Drew Martin punted the ball 50 yards and pinned WaterOak on their own 3-yard line. Brookfield’s Defense held strong and the ball was turned over on downs, allowing the Bobcats to secure the win.

“ We’ve pretty much done what we’ve done today for 5 weeks in a row,” Bobcats Head Coach Mark DeStefano said. “ The kids didn’t give up, and the coaches kept coaching hard, and they just got it. I told them, ‘Look, we can stand on the sidelines and call plays and call all this fancy stuff, but if you guys don’t go out there and execute it, then it means nothing.’ “ “They took that to heart, and they played their hearts out. I could not be prouder of a group of young men. They’ve earned this.”

Sunday’s game was the second against Water Oak this season, as the Bobcats also won, 14-0, on October 24th. The Bobcats ended their regular season 6-2, with 5 shutouts in a row.

In the playoffs, the team of 10- and 11-year-olds defeated Wolcott, 26-7, prior to Sunday’s Championship win against WaterOak. The Bobcats outscored their opponents by only giving up a combined 19 points in their last 7 games.

DeStefano credited assistant coach Kyle Sanborn for much of the team’s offensive excellence. Other assistant coaches who helped make this season successful were Rocco Micelli, Tom Breuel, Paul DelGardo and Liam O’Keefe.

“We all coached in Pop Warner together before,” Coach DeStefano said of his relationship with the other assistant coaches. “When I took this job, I brought them back as my right hand guys. They did a great job, got the team ready, and it’s just a great win for these kids.”

Coach DeStefano said that the Bobcats will head to the CT State Championship next weekend to take on the winner of the Southeast Conference.