MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — The North Central Panthers youth travel football team will get an opportunity to do what many dream of this weekend — play in Canton, Ohio, at Tom Benson Hall of Fame Stadium.
Canton, the home of the Pro Football Hall of Fame, will play host to the World Youth Championships, and the Panthers, a 10u program, will compete at the national level to see how they stack up.
The team is made up of 24 players from all over North Central West Virginia, including Morgantown, Fairmont, Clarksburg, Grafton, Bridgeport, Lost Creek, Buckhannon and Elkins. Head coach Anthony Kirk submitted stats and highlight tapes, as well as other information, to those involved with the World Youth Championships, and the Panthers were selected to participate.
Initially invited to a regional tournament in Pittsburgh, the Panthers were given a “golden ticket” to bypass regionals and go straight to nationals.
“There are 12 regions that were invited to Canton, but not all could make it due to weather with the snow, funding issues and other things like that,” Kirk said. “We play Saturday and if we win, we play Sunday. If we can win the whole thing, the kids can have their names signed into a book that will be at the Pro Football Hall of Fame forever. It’ll be a really neat thing for the kids.”
The Panthers started out three years ago as an 8u team but has steadily grown from 8u, to 9u, to now 10u. The current roster has played three games together during the Turkey Bowl in November in Logan County and was impressive during that stretch, winning the Turkey Bowl championship.
While winning is certainly a goal, Kirk knows that as this age, building basic football fundamentals and realizing what hard work can do is what’s most important.
“The experience is something that they’ll never forget,” Kirk said. “We want the kids to enjoy playing football. These kids really want to do this. We’ve dominated other local teams and wanted to see how they stack up, and see that there’s walls outside of local towns and cities they grow up in. We want to show them that goals in football are attainable and just let them realize they have an opportunity as long as they work hard.”
Roster
Jaden Hatfield, Lost Creek
Jacob Nutt, Clarksburg
Creed Stutler, Lost Creek
Kaden Keener, Grafton
Brody Kehler, Morgantown
Dayne Murphy, Bridgeport
Haiden Tenney, Buckhannon
Jayden Thompson, Clarksburg
Tarran Boda, Fairmont
Chris Pedraza, Lost Creek
Wyatt Kooken, Clarksburg
Gabe Ferrell, Clarksburg
Kadyn Baisden, Buckhannon
Brody Jeran, Buckhannon
Josh McIe, Grafton
Riley Humphries, Grafton
Trevor Winneberger, Buckhannon
Devon Williams, Morgantown
Logan Fordyce, Clarksburg
Dylan Apanowicz, Fairmont
Alex McGinnis, Bridgeport
Owen Stanley, Elkins
Tyson White, Bridgeport
Cam Poling, Grafton
