Wabash Valley Youth Football Times

Martinsville hosted another successful Jamboree this Sunday. Crowds were large and enthusiastic, although possibly a little smaller than Jamborees several years back. The Jamboree was not just football - it was a football focused event. The scrimmages are useful for the players and coaches as a baseline. Each scrimmage has a 10 minute series with one team on offense and the other on defense - then the teams switch defense for offense and vice-versa. It is played within the fifty yard line, with the fifth and sixth grade at one end and the seventh and eighth grade at the other. Winners and losers are not very relevant, because '4 and out' just starts the offense over with a fresh first down, and turnovers are handed back to the offense with a fresh first down.

Some of my impressions on teams - not intended to be comprehensive throughout all the teams, are: For fifth and sixth grade, the Paris Tigers looked strong. They scrimmaged the Casey-Westfield Braves, who had a brilliant tackle-breaking touchdown run to start the scrimmage. Afterwards, the Tigers shut down the Braves, and came back with two touchdowns in quick succession - one a long bootleg by quarterback Brady Spencer, followed by an exciting touchdown run, by Kayin Lawson, several plays later. I also noticed Cumberland playing well in both age groups, and Casey-Westfield and Marshall for 7th and 8th. My apologies to those whom I left out.

Other teams, particularly in 5th and 6th grade, had lots of mistakes, like illegal formation, illegal motion, offsides, turnovers, etc., which is actually typical for the earlygoing young teams. Overall, I saw a lot of talent, and a lot of potential. Most encouraging, I noticed kids having fun and good sportsmanship throughout.