Ocoee Bulldogs, Cardinals earn national tournament spots

OCOEE  National championships for two different youth football organizations are set to begin this weekend, and the city of Ocoee will be represented — times two.

Both the Ocoee Cardinals, a youth football organization competing in the Central Florida Youth Football League under the umbrella of American Youth Football, and the Ocoee Bulldogs, a Pop Warner program that competes locally in the Mid-Florida Pop Warner organization, are sending teams to their respective national tournaments.

What’s more impressive — and possibly exciting for supporters of Ocoee High’s football program — is both organizations are sending their oldest teams, which are basically 14-and-under squads (labeled “Unlimited” in Pop Warner and categorized as an eighth-grade team by the CFYFL).

Both Cardinals coach Julian Pittman, a former FSU Seminole and New Orleans Saint, and Bulldogs coach Jerry Middleton, also an assistant at Ocoee High, have a similar philosophy going into the national event against unfamiliar teams: Be ready to adapt.

“We adjust to what the other team is doing,” Pittman said. “We’re going to take what they give us (because) we teach it all.”

Both coaches boast offenses they feel confident can spread it out and attack through the air, or, if need be, that can pound the ball on the ground.

The Cardinals are capping what has been a banner year for the entire organization: its 8-and-under team went undefeated, its 10-and-under team placed fourth at regionals, its 12-and-under team lost just once and its seventh-grade team placed second at regionals. The Cardinals 10-and-under cheerleading team also has advanced to national competition.

It’s also not the first time the Cardinals have sent a team to nationals. Just two years ago, in 2013, a team coached by Pittman finished second in the nation. With that experience to his credit as a coach, Pittman said his philosophy approaching the event is to remain focused inward, on his boys.

“It’s going to sound cliche, but what we do is we stick to what we know — and what we know is fundamentals,” Pittman said, who also gave credit to his coaching staff.

For the Bulldogs, the context is a little different. Although the Bulldogs organization always has been very competitive and plays in Mid-Florida Pop Warner’s Division I — the highest tier — teams advancing beyond their conference have historically run into trouble at the regional level.

“In Florida, it’s to the point where you’ll have to beat two national championship-caliber teams before you get to Disney when you talk about playing teams from Jacksonville and Miami,” Middleton said. “A lot of these kids, including me as a coach, we didn’t really know if we’d be able to get there.”

In addition to picking up a talented quarterback in Timmy Sides, who can help facilitate getting the ball to the Bulldogs’ many playmakers, Middleton attributes his team’s success so far to work ethic.

“We’ve got self-motivated kids, really,” Middleton said. “They want to be the best.”

The 2015 American Youth Football National Championships will begin Dec. 6 at Austin-Tindall Park in Kissimmee. A schedule will be posted soon to americanyouthfootball.com.

Schedules were posted for the 2015 Pop Warner Super Bowl Nov. 30. The Bulldogs will open play against the Palm Bay Rockets at 9 a.m. Dec. 6 at Disney’s Wide World of Sports Complex.

Contact Steven Ryzewski at [email protected].