UPPER LAKE — The Northshore Youth Club’s first major investment is looking like a winner even though the Junior Cougars haven’t played a single down of football yet.
The Northshore non-profit known as NYC is the guiding force behind the newest addition to the Mendo-Lake Empire Junior Football League. Its three teams — varsity, junior varsity and Pee Wee — open their 2019 schedule on Aug. 17 at Fort Bragg.
“We were thrilled,” NYC president Mike Smith said of the 31 players who showed up for the first day of practice on Monday at Upper Lake High School.
NYC, which was formed only months ago, had to really hustle to put the Junior Cougars program together in time for the upcoming season.
“We got off to a late start, but things are really coming together,” said Smith, who wears any number of hats in the Upper Lake community. He’s also principal at Upper Lake Middle School, athletic director at Upper Lake High School and the varsity girls basketball coach at ULHS.
The Junior Cougars will play 11-man football unlike the ULHS team, which plays an eight-man game. To that effect, Smith said the Junior Cougars set a goal of building a roster of 15 players for each of their three teams in the inaugural season. Through Wednesday’s practice at the high school, the total player count had increased to 40 — 13 varsity, 16 JV and 11 Pee Wee.
“Players can still sign up (through Sept. 15),” Smith said.
The Junior Cougars are conditioning for two hours a days all this week. They’ll start hitting for the first time beginning Monday. Rosters are due on Aug. 14 and play begins three days later with the season opener at Fort Bragg.
The Junior Cougars are competing in the North division of the MLEJFL against Fort Bragg, Westshore (Lakeport) and Willits. They’ll play a home-and-away series against those teams and single games against each of four South division teams — Kelseyvile, Lower Lake, Middletown and St. Helena — for a total of 10 games.
The championship game between North and South winners is set for Nov. 2 in Middletown.
Each of the three divisions – varsity, JV and Pee Wee – has maximum weight limits to protect players. It’s 160 pounds for varsity, 125 for JV and 95 for Pee Wee.
While starting a football program from scratch is an involved and costly business, Dr. Giovanni Annous, the Upper Lake Unified School District superintendent and the NYC vice president, said the Northshore community has rallied to the Junior Cougars’ cause. More than $15,000 in donations have already been secured from businesses, organizations and individuals, and more is on the way.
According to Annous, there is much excitement now that the area has a youth football team the community can rally behind.
“We’ve made huge progress in a short time and people are excited about it,” he said.
Coaching the Junior Cougars in their first season are Frank Gudmundson and Eddie Peregrina at the Pee Wee level, Ernie Jones and Duke Faleagafulu at the JV level, and Bill Van Der Weken and Ray Moran at the varsity level. In addition, Vince Moran, the Upper Lake High School football head coach, will act as a liaison of sorts between the Junior Cougars and the high school Cougars, helping out the youth coaches as time allows.
