Reprinted from various editions of Daily Press Town Square sections in Hampton, Newport News, Gloucester and York/Poquoson. This was the Newport News version published on October 4, 2012.
Founded in 1960, the Peninsula Youth Football Cheerleading
Organization (PYFCO) has dedicated itself to teaching boys and girls from the
Peninsula, Gloucester and even West Point and Middlesex, the disciplines of
football and cheerleading while providing a high quality environment where a
great deal of the learning happens outside of the gridiron lines.
According to its mission statement, the objective of PYFCO,
known as the Peninsula Youth Football Association (PYFA) until last year, is “to
instill in the youth of the Association members the desire to engage in an
activity that will teach them physical and mental skills through the enjoyment
of the game of football and its related activity of cheerleading.”
The league is headed by a seven-member board, which consists
of a president, Criszon “Heavy” Courtney, three commissioners, a treasurer,
secretary and sergeant-at-arms. The board oversees the 14 teams within the
league, and each association, which has its own leadership structure, headed by
a president, fields football and cheerleading squads in as many as four age
group categories – the Mites (ages 6-7), Mighty Mites (8-9), Midgets (10-11)
and Juniors (12-14).
PYFCO
is a large operation. For example, the Golden Saints of Newport News are represented by more than 150 individuals – over 90
players, 32 cheerleaders, 19 volunteer coaches (16 for football, three
cheerleading), and another volunteer staff of 13 which handle everything from
equipment, parent volunteers, photographs and the team website. The Saints’
annual budget exceeds $20,000, and the team was recently granted their own home
field with lights at Lee Hall Elementary school. Overall, over 1,700 athletes
and nearly 800 cheerleaders participate in what the promoters like to call the
“Best Game in Town.” It is the culmination of a dream started by Vernon Taylor
and George Teagle, Jr., long time youth league supporters and the driving
forces behind the success of the original PYFA. Both men have passed away in
the past several years - Taylor in 2007 and Teagle in 2008.
The teams play a 10-game schedule with the top four teams
qualifying for the playoffs. Winners of the semifinal games square off in the
league’s Super Bowl, which is a four-game, all day consummation of the season’s
events. Each division plays its championship while a carnival like atmosphere surrounds
the field, much like the festivities which take place at its NFL namesake. By
the end of the day four league champions are crowned.
Last year’s Super Bowl was held at the “Pit” on the campus of
Bruton High and saw two teams from Grafton-Tabb, the Yorktown Patriot midgets
and Tri-City Hurricane junior team win championship trophies.
The 14 organizations representing the PYFCO are:
Back River Panthers (Poquoson)
Gloucester Knights
Golden Saints (Newport News)
Grafton-Tabb Tigers
Hampton Tornadoes
James City Jaguars
Middlesex Colts
Poquoson Bulls
Tidewater T-Wolves (Hampton)
Tri-Citi Hurricanes (Newport News)
Tri-Rivers Titans (West Point)
Williamsburg Hornets
York-Seaford Bulldogs
Yorktown Patriots
Last year’s PYFCO Super Bowl Results (held at Bruton H.S. on
November 19, 2011)
Mites (6-7) – Grafton-Tabb Tigers 20, Hampton Tornadoes 19
Mighty Mites (8-9) – Grafton-Tabb Tigers 32, Williamsburg Gold
Hornets 7
Midgets (10-11) – Yorktown Patriots 12, Poquoson Bulls 6
Juniors (12-14) – Tri-City Hurricanes 20, Poquoson Bulls 0
More information about the league can be found at the website
for the Peninsula Youth Football Cheerleading Organization, which is located at
www.pyfco.org. Games are played for all four divisions every Saturday with the
Mites game first, at 9:30 AM, followed by the Mighty Mites (11:00), Midgets
(12:30) and Juniors (2:00)
This is my fourth year with PYFCO. I have two boys that play football and each year I become more and more disappointed in the organization. The president, "Heavy" and, what many of us parents refer to as his "cronies", have become out of control. They are no longer an unbiased group and their first concern is no longer the children. It has become a corrupt organization with adults more concerned with their personal feelings about each other, than what is best for the children. This is not how the founders and many of the long term supporters intended for it to be run. The league honors two of its long term members that have passed away by holding the TNT Jamboree. These men are rolling over in their graves at the dishonor "Heavy" is showing to the organization. His unethical behavior needs to be stopped. He is setting a terrible example for the children. The sad thing is, many of the kids are old enough to recognize what is going on. His personal feelings towards coaches or organizations within the league should have no bearing on the outcome of the games but it does. While some of the teams are allowed to break the rules, other teams are targeted by him. The penalties are not the same across the board and neither is the treatment. Let the children play and let them decide the wins and loses.
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