Youth football helps players, coaches love of game
HUNTLEY – The Red Raiders’ way is started early when it comes to the local youth football opportunities.
“Last year we had 257 players and this season we have 323 players, a 25 percent increase,” Huntley Red Raider Youth Football President Robert Oruche said. “Last season we instituted a seven-on-seven football team. It enables parents who may be on the fence (of allowing children to play football) to see what youth football is about, our safety, our culture, our environment. Last year we had 100 players there and this year it’s 200. The year-to-year growth is incredible.”
The youngest players in the 5-to-14-year-old program play on shorter fields, per The Chicagoland Youth Football League (TCYFL).
The four main principles of the Huntley program are integrity, loyalty, leadership and character. “The only way is through” is the motto, according to the program’s web site. “Our goal is not only to teach them how to be better football players but also leaders in our community.”
Oruche said the program’s methods have attracted attention from many other surrounding communities’ youth football programs and the numbers are tops in the TCYFL.
This season there are 16 teams, up from 13 last year, from the seven-on-seven to varsity level. There are varsity and junior varsity squads as well as two light weight teams, four middle weights, four feather weights, three bantams and one seven-on-seven group. Squads are either the more competitive Big 10 designation or developmental Pac 10 leagues.
“The coaches’ experience is a mix of newer coaches and experienced coaches but the majority are experienced coaches,” Oruche said.
The tone for the 2022 was set at a scrimmage night.
“We had a preseason scrimmage fest and we had 30 vendors, food and local businesses. It’s definitely a big town thing. Because of the leadership of HHS head football coach Mike Naymola and Athletic Director Glen Wilson, we’re moving closer and closer to being one organization. All the way down to the youngest levels, the kids run the high school’s plays.”
The young Red Raiders learn from high school coaches at preseason camps. The youth teams’ Homecoming was held Sept. 17 and 18 at Huntley High School’s football field. Most home games are at Marlowe Middle School.
It was a successful day last Saturday for a middle weight team, a 14-0 win in a hard-fought game against Lake Zurich.
“The players were very excited about having their parents in the stands,” the middle weight team’s coach Joe Cerny said. “As you move up through the levels, the players and coaches are better prepared.”
Oruche leads a group of 14 board members, adding all do their part. “The efforts of the board members is why we’re so successful,” he said.
Jim Berends, the Red Raiders Youth Football vice president, noted the program has the top safety measures in place, as recommended by Riddell sports equipment.
Participation by all team members is encouraged by 11-on and 11-off rules, Berends added.
“Our numbers are fantastic,” Berends said.
Teams are chosen in summer drills prior to the start of the nine-week regular season.
“This isn’t “daddy ball’,” Oruche said. “My son plays quarterback but if another better quarterback comes in, he’ll play. Our draft is very unique, for example, the highest level varsity black, had 90 players. If 10 are quarterbacks, they take the two or three top players and others are assigned different teams.”
The season continues through early November’s playoffs and youth super bowl games. Five Huntley teams of 13 qualified for super bowl games last season. Three were victorious, including one Huntley squad beating another.
Oruche, a four-year Huntley resident, who coaches a featherweight team, has a long-standing background with football. He is a native of Bensenville who played his high school football at Fenton and his college football at Northern Illinois University.
