Tracy Press

Football season is here. Three local youth clubs are now into their summer workouts in preparation for the fall season.

Over the weekend, both the Tracy Raiders and Tracy Cougars of the Delta Youth Football League started their workouts. The Tracy Buccaneers of the National Youth Football League had their conditioning training last week and this week put on pads and helmets for drills.

Each club has players ages 6 through 14, and each has four teams for the different age levels, plus cheerleading squads for each level.

The Tracy Raiders Varsity start off their season with wind sprints — and more wind sprints. Photo by Bob Brownne/Tracy Press.

The Raiders mark their 35th year of youth football in 2008. The team practices at Tracy Ball Park and will host games at Tracy High. The Raiders’ first game is on the road Sept. 6 against the Tri-Valley Falcons, and their first home game will be Sept. 13 against the South Stockton Vikings.

“I know I have four or five coaches that started here when they were kids and are coaches now,” Raiders president Sheila Soares said. “It’s rich in tradition.”

For their first week, Raiders team members ran laps and sprints.

“We do have to get them conditioned, but we try to make it fun,” varsity coach Vada Franklin said. “They understand what they need to do to get in shape.”

Next week, players will run drills wearing helmets and pads and learn other fundamentals of the game.

“The one thing we teach here is teamwork,” Franklin said. “We’ve got to learn to trust each other and rely on each other.”

Jim Dunniway, offensive line coach for the Tracy Cougars Junior Novice team, runs players through a blocking drill Tuesday. Photo by Bob Brownne/Tracy Press.

The Cougars also started workouts Saturday. About 160 players gathered on the fields at Williams Middle School. The Cougars will play home games at West High.

Their first game is Aug. 25 on the road against the Lodi Bobcats, and their first home stand is set for Sept. 1 against the Stockton Bears.

Clarence Gilbert, head coach for the Junior Novice team, said he tells players they’re in the real estate business every time they play a game.

“If we win, the stadium belongs to us. At the end of the season, we hope to have 10 homes,” he said.

He added that the main goal is for the young players to have fun, compete and learn the game.

“When they go home, I want them to feel good about how they did, win or lose,” he said.

Cougars Vice President Mac Hutchins said the club has made progress in its six years, with the Novice team taking the conference championship and going to the super bowl last year and the Junior Varsity team making it to the conference championship game.

Marcus Vaughn takes the handoff from Nick Violante as the Tracy Buccaneers Rookie team gets into its second week of practice. Photo by Bob Brownne/Tracy Press.

The Buccaneers started their second week of practice this week at Tracy Ball Park. It’s the first year players who joined up in the “Starts” division — for players ages 6 through 8 — in the club’s inaugural year in 2003 will play on the varsity team.

Since then, the club has made repeated trips to championship games.

“We have one team that’s almost 100 percent of the team that won everything last year,” said assistant coach Bruce Russell, who went from coaching a Little League district champion baseball team Sunday to coaching the Buccaneers Rookie team, which includes some of his baseball players, on Monday. That’s the team that won the NYFL state championship in last year’s super bowl.

The Buccaneers will play half of their home games at Tracy High and half at West High. Their first game is Aug. 16 on the road against the San Joaquin Steelers, and their first home game is Sept. 13 against the Patriots East.

• To reach Sports Editor Bob Brownne, call 830-4227 or e-mail This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it

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written by DMAROULAS , July 23, 2008

GO BUCCS!!!! I look forward to another great season. I love to see all the talent in these children..