The Sunnyvale Sun
Sports
Rockets soar to national championship
By Mike Barnhart
Mission accomplished!
The Sunnyvale Micro Rockets, with a pair of Super Bowl victories in Orlando, Fla., last week, became 2006 Pop Warner Division II Junior Midget national co-champions.
The youth football national title, the first for the Sunnyvale-Cupertino Pop Warner organization since 1997, fulfilled a goal that the Micro Rockets' 31 players and nine coaches established when practices began back in August.
"This team was determined and selfless," said head coach Joe Kealiinohomoku after the Micro Rockets returned home triumphantly from their weeklong trip to Walt Disney World.
The Micro Rockets defeated the Waterbury Patriots of Connecticut 14-6 in the Division II finale on Dec. 8. Three days earlier, the Micros had rallied from an 8-0 deficit to defeat the Hacienda-La Puente Wildcats of Southern California 24-8.
The Micro Rockets finished the season with a 15-1 record, including 14 wins in a row since their only defeat, 16-0 to Division I Palo Alto back in September.
"A lot of different things go into a championship like this," the coach said. "We had some chemistry and some luck, and our defense was phenomenal."
The defense, which went to Orlando after allowing just six points and posting five shutouts in six postseason games, needed to come up big in the first round against Hacienda-La Puente.
After falling behind for the first time in the playoffs, defensive back Alex Medin (two interceptions) and Zachary Ota (two quarterback sacks) helped the Micro Rockets' defense shut down the Pacific Southwest Regional winner in the final 20 minutes.
Meanwhile, quarterback Shaquille Green directed a seven-play, 70-yard scoring drive to begin the third quarter. Kyle Madden ran the final six yards for a touchdown, and Green kicked the two-point conversion to tie the game.
Later in the third quarter, Denzel Brown blocked a punt deep in Wildcats territory and Jagger Pique fell on it in for a 14-6 lead. Tyler Bond's 10-yard scoring scamper around end in the fourth quarter put the game out of reach.
In the championship game, Nikko Hill scored a touchdown in each half, one on a 30-yard pass from Bond and the other on a 1-yard run in the fourth quarter. Bond's PAT kick after Hill's first score gave the Micros an 8-0 lead at the half.
Hill, Pique, Shane Bond and Alex Peni all made outstanding defensive plays during the first two quarters, stifling a Waterbury offense that had rolled up 31 points in the first round game against a team from Parkhill, Mo.
Waterbury pulled to within 8-6 in the third quarter on a by a 15-yard fumble return, but missed the PAT kick.
Hill's fourth-quarter score capped the Micros' second long drive of the period. Twice they kept the drive going with crucial fourth-down plays. Madden gained a first down on a powerful run up the middle and Green passed to T. Bond on a fourth-and-nine from the 12. Hill scored on the next play.
Medin put to rest the Patriots' final hope. His interception of a long pass over the middle ended the game, as well as a four-year journey for Kealiinohomoku and 12 of the players.
"My first year as a head coach we were 0-7-1 as the junior pee wee Knights," the coach reflected. "Some of our players were playing football for the first time, but for 12 the dream of playing for a national championship started three years ago."
A public commendation for the dream come true has been scheduled by the city of Sunnyvale. The Micro Rockets will be wearing their home uniforms at the Sunnyvale City Council meeting on Dec. 19.
