Bloomfield Junior Bengals sixth-grade team captures league’s Super Bowl title

Bloomfield Junior Bengals C squad head coach James McDaniel rejoices as he holds up the championship trophy in front of his squad after it won the New Jersey Suburban Youth Football League championship.

McDaniel gathers with the football players and cheerleaders. ‘The great thing I love about coaching these kids, they get it,’ McDaniel said of coaching the football team. ‘We are a team! They are not selfish.’ (Photos Courtesy of James McDaniel)

BLOOMFIELD, NJ — The Bloomfield Junior Bengals C football squad, consisting of sixth-graders, defeated Scotch Plains in thrilling fashion by a score of 7-6 in overtime to capture the New Jersey Suburban Youth Football League Super Bowl on Sunday, Nov. 19, at Foley Field, avenging an earlier-season loss.

The game was scoreless at the end of the fourth quarter. “Our defense was stellar, bending a little, but getting even stingier if they got into our territory,” Junior Bengals president and C squad head coach James McDaniel said. “(The) defense was hustling to the ball, all 11 bodies. We have a pursuit drill we practice and it paid off big-time in the semifinals and championship game. Offensively, we played sloppy (with) mental mistakes, shooting ourselves in the foot. The great thing is this team fights to the end. Our staff preaches (that) winning by one point or losing by 50 points, we will be coaching them until the last second ticks off the clock, so they play hard until the last second on the clock.”

On Sunday, Oct. 8, the Junior Bengals lost to Scotch Plains, 26-6. “Again, after we watched the film, we showed them how we beat ourselves by just not being lined up correctly,” McDaniel said. “So Scotch Plains players, being sixth-grade kids themselves, figured it would be easy. As the GOAT (Greatest of All Time), Muhammad Ali said, ‘We shook up the world!’ The great thing I love about coaching these kids, they get it. We are a team! They are not selfish. Throughout the season, each week, different players made big plays in big spots. We had three come-from-behind victories this season. They also embrace how hard we push them to be better and they learned a lot. Back in August, I said, ‘Man, our offensive and defensive concepts are not complicated.’ They were struggling with it. By the end of the season, in practice, we call the wrong play, (and) they would say ‘Coach, you mean this,’ correcting us. That taught us a lesson. Some children learn at different stages and break it down differently, then it clicks. I always tell them, if we give instructions that don’t make sense, call us coaches out and we will explain how it applies to what we are doing!”

Here is the Junior Bengals C squad roster:

Players