Pop Warner Football: A Family Affair

Coaching a team of 7-year-old flag football players is no different than parenting, with one exception. "There are a lot more kids," said Gordon MacMorran.

There aren't just a lot of kids on the team, but also a lot of teams in the Pop Warner League that plays every weekend: Seven, with flag footballers the youngest level.

MacMorran decided to coach after his son asked him to. "Nobody can beat football," MacMorran said.

When the Sea Hawks played Torrance Panthers at Redondo Union High on Saturday, it was evident how much of a family the team is. With the clock ticking down near the end of the game, Justin Scarbrough turned to the sideline from the defensive back position and said to his mother, an assistant coach: "I know we're winning, but I'm not happy. I didn't get the ball!"

A mere two minutes later, the game was officially over and Scarbrough was running around the field with a big smile alongside his teammates in celebration of the win.

Kids barely seemed to notice if they won or lost, evidenced by the 7-year-old boys' fascination with water bottles on the sideline as well as the 13-year-old boys having to be told by coaches to pay attention to the game and not the cheerleaders behind them.

After the Junior Midget team endured a lopsided loss, 12-year-olds slapped hands to say "good game" with the Panthers at midfield, many of them smiling at players and friends on the other team.

"Parents and coaches want to win at this level, players want to play," said Tony Deveres, the head referee for the Pop Warner games.

Deveres has refereed many games at many levels, including the Mira Costa-Serra high school game last week. Deveres said there's often more intensity at younger levels of play, and that's not always a good thing.

"There's never more hostility when there's nothing at stake," Deveres said, who likes to check in on games because there is often more abuse of referees at the Pop Warner level. Saturday wasn't too bad, other than some consistent catcalls from parents to hit harder.

The majority of parents are very supportive, including the parent volunteers who ran the snack bar at the top of the stands (amazing tacos) to the coaches to those keeping score and announcing the game to the chain gang on the sidelines.

"This is a blast," said Tom McVeigh, the down-marker for the Junior Midget game. "I'd do it every week if I could."

They play Pop Warner games every Saturday through November.

On Saturday, Redondo Team A flag footballers won 12-0; Redondo Team B won 15-13; Torrance won 30-6 in the Mighty-Mite game; Redondo won the Jr. Pee-Wee game 20-0; Torrance won the Pee-Wee 14-6.