West Lynn Pop Warner seeks national title

The West Lynn Pop Warner A team will try to bring home the top prize today when it plays the Palm Bay Rockets in the Pop Warner Midgets Division II National Championship game at Disney?s Wide World of Sports Complex.The game can be seen online live at 3:15 p.m. at ESPN3.com.West Lynn coach Maurice Cordy said West Lynn lost to Palm Bay (Florida) 18-6 in the semifinals last year. He said the teams are similar in that Palm Bay returns five players from that team and West Lynn returns four from last year?s squad.Cordy said there are a couple of very fast running backs that his team will have to stop, but if that happens, West Lynn has a good shot at bringing home a title. Cordy has seen Palm Bay play and said it looks like last year?s team was a little bigger than this year?s team.?If we can control those two guys, we have a shot,” he said.This is Cordy?s fourth time at the nationals and this year is different than past years in one very important way. In 2009 he had a starting lineman break his forearm. In 2011, in the first six minutes of the first game, five running backs went down. He said he had guys running the ball who hadn?t done it all year. Last year, Cody Mullen, who is back this year, broke his arm and another player couldn?t make the trip.West Lynn made it to the national championship game with a 14-0 win over the Southside Cyclones from Rochester, N.Y., and an 8-6 overtime win against the Greensboro (N.C.) Ravens.The Rockets reached the championship game with a 35-0 win over Bay City, Ca., and then a 34-0 win over the New Birth, Ohio, Warriors. During the regular season, the Rockets had 14 shutouts in 17 games. The team was 17-0 this season.West Lynn?s last game was Tuesday night. The Rams have been busy since then, taking in some of the Disney World attractions. Wednesday night was Pop Warner night. Football players and cheerleaders were treated to free food and drinks in the park. On Thursday, the team went to Animal Kingdom and then returned to the All-Star sports resort to watch game film before lights out.The team will head back to Lynn (they drove down in vans) on Saturday morning.