PHOTO BY LUCIA EARL-MITCHELL

The Raiders won the title in the 8 and under division earlier this month with a 44-18 victory to finish the season with a 6-0 record. The Eagles won the title in the 11 and under division with a 36-6 victory over the Vikings Nov. 15.

Eagles, Raiders win flag football titles

By John Larson

Two of Puyallup Tribal Youth Center’s flag football teams won titles in Northwest Youth Sports Alliance competition this season.

The Eagles won the title in the 11 and under division with a 36-6 victory over the Vikings Nov. 15 at South End Recreation Area in Tacoma.

Head coach Troy Garcia saw much progress from his players over the course of the season. “The first game they were kind of scared,” he said. “After that they did much better.”

He noticed improvement from the of-fense and especially from the defense, which allowed just six points in the title game.

This was Troy Garcia’s first season coaching. He enjoyed the experience. “I liked being with the kids, teaching them athletics.” He thinks the most important lesson the players learned was to respect themselves.

The Raiders won the title in the 8 and under division earlier this month with a 44-18 victory to finish the season with a 6-0 record.

Some of the teams practice once a week. The Raiders practiced twice a week, and head coach Derek Tarabochia feels it made a difference. “That helps out a lot.”

They had some close contests in their undefeated season, winning one game by three points and another by four points.

Teamwork was a key to the Raiders’ success. “They worked together as a team,” Derek Tarabochia said.

He had a nucleus of players from last year. The youth center has a tackle football team, the Future Hawks. Derek Tarabochia expects about half of his players will move up to tackle football next year, while the 7-year-old players will return to be Raiders next season.

He thinks flag football does a lot to teach the fundamentals of the game and prepares them for when they will need to put on helmets and shoulder pads. “It gets the players in tune with what they will need to do,” he said. “It will be a bit of a transition, but they have the fundamentals down.”

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