Danbury Trojans have memorable trip to Pop Warner Nationals

When the Danbury Trojans 12U Pop Warner football team took the trip to Orlando, Florida in early December, it was the first time the program sent a team to the national event in more than 20 years.

“The last time we came down here was 1998, so it has been a while,” Danbury Athletic Youth Organization President Nick Kaplanis said. “The program has been pretty successful from the start to today, although getting to this tournament is not easy.”

The Trojans cleaned up throughout the regular season, going 8-0 in state before two shutout playoff victories over Waterbury (37-0) and New Haven (27-0) to earn a chance at the Regional Championship.

As the Southern Connecticut League and state champion, the Trojans’ next challenge would be Lawrence, an undefeated representative from Massachusetts.

“There was a lot of hype around them this season,” Trojans 12U coach Ryan Saunders said. “They had outscored their opponents 324-6 in the regular season. We went out there and kind of went to town, 26-6. We scored more on them in the first quarter than their entire league did all season.”

With the win, the Trojans earned their trip to nationals, representing the the New England Region.

“This thing has evolved over the years into the format it is in now,” Kaplanis said. “You have eight regions of the country, and then ultimately two teams play for that national championship at each age level.”

Though it has been a while since the Trojans made a national’s appearance, the stage was familiar for Saunders.

“When he was 10 years old, he was on the team in 1996 that I coached,” Kaplanis said. “We went down to the nationals as well. It is very difficult to get down here, so for someone to play and then come back years later and coach in the same tournament is a pretty great accomplishment.”

This trip for Saunders

was more of a family affair.

“I am the head coach, my wife was one of the team moms, my son is on the team and niece is on the team,” Saunders said. “It was a family affair for me, which made it even more enjoyable.”

In the first game of the tournament, Danbury lost to the Santa Cruz Seahawks of California 31-6. The Seahawks would end up winning the national championship.

In the consolation bracket, Danbury ended its season December 8th with a 41-6 win over the Churchland Tigers of Virginia.

“It was a pretty amazing season,” Saunders said. “I was fortunate to grow up as a Danbury Trojan, so I have been involved for a while. I was fortunate in 1996 to play in nationals, so to now be able to come back and coach was pretty exciting.”

Looking back at the beginning of the year, Saunders finds himself even more impressed with the effort his youth squad turned in.

With 14 of his 22 players having never played football before and a questionable start to the season, Saunders did not know what to expect.

“We started with a jamboree in the beginning of the season, and it didn’t look too bright,” Saunders said. “It was pretty bumpy, and we didn’t get a lot of time with our team, but the first game against New Haven we were down, and the kids didn’t give up and ended up winning.”

The winning kept coming as the Trojans only allowed more than six points in two of their 11 pre-nationals games. In the state and New England playoffs, the Trojans outscored opponents 90-6.

Before the trip, the program raised just more than $21,000 of its $45,000 goal on a GoFundMe page, which remains active as the program will have to pay off loans that helped cover travel and living costs for the trip. Saunders said.

“Fundraising is still going on, we are doing as much as we can,” Saunders said.“There are so many things I want to be able to do for this program, but it comes down to funding. Every penny that we get goes back into the kids and the program, and they 100% deserve it.”

With the youth programs of Danbury football turning in a historic season, there comes excitement with it.

“The opportunity to actually go to Orlando is phenomenal,” Kaplanis said. “Of all the kids that play youth football, it is such a small percentage of kids that go down here. They have made lifelong friends being a part of this team. They will remember this forever.”