Pop Warner team’s run comes to an end

In a “hard fought battle,” the La Costa Canyon Pop Warner Midgets fell Dec. 10 to Connecticut’s New Britain Raiders 14-22.

Following an undefeated season, the La Costa Canyon Mavericks secured a spot to Orlando, Fla. for the Division 1 Pop Warner Super Bowl Championships.

The Mavericks came out on top in their first game, putting them against the Raiders. If the Mavericks had won, they would have played in the Super Bowl.

“LCC poured its heart in the field,” head coach Brian Reynolds said. “Today we were a little short. All in all, a great year — very proud of my boys.”

Reynolds added it was “one of the best games ever” and a “hard-fought battle.”

According to him, the Raiders took the lead 14-0 early, and then the Mavericks came back.

“We had the ball three times at the end of the fourth quarter to try and go ahead, but turnovers prevailed,” Reynolds said.

Reynolds said it was an especially great game because the Mavericks were a younger team than the Raiders.

“They could not believe that a first-year head coach and a team of eighth graders had just given them the game of their year,” Reynolds said.

At the beginning of the year, the Mavericks merged with the Carlsbad Lancers, thanks to neither team having enough players at this Pop Warner level.

A few weeks ago, the Mavericks, made up of 13- and 14-year-olds, beat Orange County’s Rancho Margarita Eagles 8-6 in nail-biter, earning a trip to Florida.