The Central Coast Sharks, a local youth football team, was born from a simple curiosity: If the best football players in Santa Maria joined forces onto one team, how would they fare against the best players from other regions around the U.S.?
On Jan. 10, we found out the answer: best in the nation.
The Sharks brought home first-place honors at the Big Dog Bowl national tournament in San Bernardino Jan. 9 and 10. The newcomers from the Central Coast upset the Louisiana Swampcats 16-0 in the championship game.
Representing Santa Maria in the competition was an amalgam of eighth and ninth graders from all over the city. Players and coaches from St. Joseph’s to Santa Maria High, from the Orcutt Youth Football League to the Santa Maria Youth Football League, came together to make up the team.
“We put this team together just to take them to this tournament,” said JJ Vann, one of the Sharks’ eight coaches. “It was the first time a lot of these boys played together.”
The Sharks got organized just in time to hold four team practices to prepare for the tournament. The Orcutt Youth Football League lent them pads and helmets, while the coaches fundraised money for custom jerseys and other tournament expenses.
Going into the competition, Vann wasn’t sure how the boys would click as a team. Many of them were meeting and playing with each other for the first time. Some of them only knew one another as rivals in the local football leagues.
“A lot of these guys went against each other, beating each other up in league season,” Vann said. “To put them all together on the same team, that was interesting. We knew we had the talent; it was a matter of getting the players to gel together.”
The Sharks were led by Pioneer Valley freshman Michael Bourbon Jr., who carried the majority of the offense at running back.
“It was really different to see everyone else’s talent on the same field at once,” Bourbon said.
Fresh off of a football season playing for Pioneer Valley’s varsity team, Bourbon told the Sun that it was fun for him to play with and against players his own age for a change.
“For varsity, I played against 18-year-olds,” he said. “I was more of a leader [for the Central Coast Sharks].”
The Big Dog Bowl got off to an odd start. A scheduling snafu resulted in a delayed start for the Sharks’ first game of the tournament, a night game against San Diego.
“We drew the last game of the night,” Vann said. “As the game starts, we’re told that the lights turn out at 10 p.m.”
The game only lasted three quarters, ending in an anti-climactic 0-0 stalemate.
“We were all rushed in the first game,” Bourbon said, knowing that the game would end early at 10 p.m. “We didn’t have time to process what was happening, to figure out how to score against them.”
Despite the tie, the Sharks still managed to advance to the finals the next day against the tournament favorites, the Louisiana Swampcats.
Swampcats are a perennial powerhouse in youth football. They came to California with five teams competing in different age groups.
“Those guys had obviously been together quite a few years,” Vann said of the Swampcats. “They brought out more than 100 players.”
But Bourbon, ultimately, proved to be too much for the Swampcats’ defense. After a shaky first half for the Sharks, Bourbon broke free for two touchdowns. The Sharks clamped down on defense and secured the championship.
“We were able to beat them with good, old-fashioned football,” Vann said. “We pounded it, running the ball until it broke free.”
For the players and coaches, the actual football games were only half the fun. Hanging out in the hotel as a new team, bonding with each other, were also highlights that left a lasting impression.
Bourbon noted that the experience affected him more as a person than as a player.
“I learned that whatever I do, my teammates were going to do because I’m a leader,” he said.
Following the success of the tournament, Vann and others in the Sharks’ coaching staff are interested in forming a full-scale Santa Maria travel football club, with multiple age divisions, to participate in more tournaments like the Big Dog Bowl.
A travel team gives boys who want to play football year-round an opportunity to do so in a broader competitive setting, Vann said.
“We have travel basketball, travel soccer—nobody does travel football for the boys,” Vann said. “We now have to raise the funds to do this. It’s not cheap.”
Bourbon is one kid who can vouch for the value of more opportunities to play football.
“Once I found out there’s a travel football team, I was so excited because it meant I got to play again,” Bourbon said. “I was bummed when the high school season ended. Football is my favorite sport.”
Contributor Peter Johnson can be reached at pjohnson@newtimesslo.com.
This article appears in Jan 21-28, 2016.
