Cannonball!
The 11U Addison Cowboys football team was going to swim Saturday, like 20 delirious boys who might never see a pool again. Goodness, they’d earned it. With three victories in seven days at Orlando’s Camping World Stadium — home of the NFL Pro Bowl — they’d captured the club’s first Pop Warner national championship, besting the Enon (Pennsylvania) Eagles 18-0 in Friday’s title game.
How good were the Cowboys — all but a handful of them from West Suburban Addison, and nearly all of them sixth-graders — this season? Wrap your heads around this: They went 15-0, including three state playoff wins and a regional championship before Orlando, and outscored opponents 335-6 along the way.
But there was no taking things for granted on this epic business trip, during which coach Dino Cardone didn’t allow his players to swim — got to keep those little legs fresh — until there were no more games left to win. These Cowboys were on a mission after making it to Orlando as 10U players but coming up short in the championship game.
“The kids were crying last year,” Cardone said, “and I looked at them and told them, ‘Remember this feeling. We’re never going to feel this way again.’ ”
Lineman Michael Aguilar, 11, was so hoarse from all the celebrating that he sounded three times his age as he jumped on his coach’s cell phone at the team hotel.
“I just wanted to do something else other than playing video games,” he said. “I’m glad I found football. It took me to places that I never imagined.”
Sounding very much his age was fifth-grader CJ Roman, only 10, who mans a few different positions for the Cowboys.
“I play up,” he explained, proudly.
Said Roman, “It was amazing to see what it felt like to be a real athlete playing in a real stadium.”
Two-way standout Aydin Henning, 11, almost couldn’t believe how lucky he was to be a part of it all.
“I felt so great, like, emotional, because it was my first time winning the championship in the Pro Bowl stadium,” he said. “I was so happy I got to play in the Pro Bowl stadium!”
Cardone — a former arena football player — joined the Cowboys as a coach when he was 21. He’s 42 now and running the club, having spent half his life teaching and leading young players.
“It became my passion,” he said.
Beating a team from Hawaii was nice. Beating a team from South Carolina was better. Winning it all knocked Cardone for a loop.
“When I was looking at the Jumbotron with three minutes left, I was like, ‘Wow, is this really happening?’ ” he said. “Man, we finally accomplished it. I’m still in awe.”
Splash made. …
A tip of the helmet, as well, to Mokena’s 13U Illinois Jr. Celtics, who stomped Florida’s Westchase Colts 41-8 in the Pop Warner Super Bowl to repeat as champions. …
Is it Jan. 7 yet?
We might as well skip straight to it. Because unless and until the Bears beat the Packers in what happens to be the regular-season finale, any talk of Justin Fields remaining QB1, the team making meaningful improvement and coach Matt Eberflus somehow hanging on to his job is emptier than a keg of Wisco Disco after a Lambeau Field tailgate.
After winning back-to-back against the Vikings and Lions, Eberflus is 2-9 against the division. Throw him a parade if you want to. But he is 0-3 against the Packers. Matt Nagy was 1-7 against the Packers as Bears coach, John Fox 1-5, Marc Trestman 1-3, Lovie Smith 8-11, Dick Jauron 2-8, Dave Wannstedt 1-11.
Did you realize there was a theme here? Yeah, you probably did.
Beat the Packers or it doesn’t matter. …
Look, we both know you were about to look it up: Mike Ditka’s Bears were 15-5 against the Cheeseheads. …
How much is $700 million? Here’s one way to look at Shohei Ohtani’s new contract with the Dodgers: It’s nearly four times what the Angels were sold for ($184 million) in 2003 and not far off from what the Ricketts family paid for the Cubs ($845 million) in 2009. Other than that, it ain’t much. …
It’s a coin flip whether or not Illinois will remain in the Top 25 after an 86-79 loss at Tennessee dropped its record to 7-2, but there’s no question here that the Illini belong in the rankings and will be there most or all of the season. Tennessee is a team with Final Four potential, and that was a dogfight. …
Kind of funny that Northwestern star guard Boo Buie came back with five points in a 91-59 blowout of Detroit Mercy in his first game after pouring in 31 in a thrilling upset of No. 1 Purdue.
“I just feel that I’m one of the better players in the [Big Ten] and in the country,” Buie said after that one.
He’s still correct about that, for those of you scoring at home. …
Guess who’s got it rolling? Porter Moser at Oklahoma, where the Sooners are 10-0 and have a shot at a top-15 ranking in Monday’s new poll. It took a minute — and even this OU team likely isn’t a legit Big 12 contender — but it’s happening for Loyola’s old pal in Norman. …
Some bettors took an all-time bad beat Saturday when Army purposely took a safety on the final play of a 17-11 win against Navy. It was 17-9 until the Cadets’ punter took a snap and ran out of the back of the end zone, putting the game over the hilariously low total of 27½. The most amazing part: There wasn’t even a Ferentz in the building.
