Brooklyn Pop Warner team scrambling for funds to play in league Super Bowl

There’s only one thing stopping an undefeated New York City football powerhouse from making it to this year’s Super Bowl — it can’t afford the trip.

It’s fourth and long for Brooklyn’s Mo Better Jaguars, whose Eastern Regional Championship win secured the team of 8- and 9-year-olds a spot in the Pop Warner Super Bowl in Orlando this weekend.

But local program organizers are scrambling like a desperate quarterback to raise the money needed to send the little linebackers and linemen to Disney World for a showdown with their tiny, talented  rivals.

“How do you tell a 9-year-old who played football all season that, unfortunately, we couldn’t raise the money for you guys to continue and go on to the Pop Warner Super Bowl?” said Cheryl Wray, president of Mo Better Jaguars Football.

“I don’t know what I would say to them. I don’t know. I would crawl under a rock. If we were in the Upper East Side, if we were in Connecticut, if we were in Long Island, this would not be a thought. Somebody would just write a check — right? — and take care of the whole thing. We’re not in that. We’re servicing low-income, inner-city kids.”

After a season that has seen both the Jets and Giants mired in mediocrity, New York’s football hopes ride on the shoulder pads of fourth- and fifth-graders whose salaries are paid in pizza and Pepsi.

For them, football is a love-of-the-game activity that they squeeze in between piano lessons, Roblox and studying for a science test. So the opportunity to represent their hardscrabble Brownsville neighborhood on little league football’s biggest stage is something that they should not miss, their biggest boosters say.

“It’s a big boost for their self-esteem,” said Jaguars head coach Chris Legree. “I mean, everybody likes to feel associated with something successful, right? So when the kid walks down the street or goes to school with our jersey on or with our hoodies or jackets, they get a sense of belonging to something positive.

“We didn’t start the program to make NFL players. We go very hard with the academics. We say, if you have academics and athletics, it can open up possibilities for you to open up opportunities, right? Our ultimate goal is to produce productive members of society. You can do so many good things with sports — [learn to deal with] adversity, confidence, preparation. It’s just getting these principles in.”

Wray has two sons who played in the program.

“The oldest one went to school on a football scholarship,” she said. “They’re both college graduates. I know what this program can do for a young boy in the inner city. You know — the guidance, the direction, the structure. When I see kids able to put their phones down and get on the field and not just play football, but then play with each other. ”

Not only is the team undefeated with a 12-0 record — not one single team has even been able to score on them. As a result, the Jaguars are scheduled to play their first-round game on Saturday. But, right now, they barely have enough money to make it out of Brooklyn, organizers said.

Wray said the Florida trip costs about $1,500 per player for travel, lodging and meals, or about $47,000 in total. She said that, so far, the organization has been able to raise about $22,000.

Wray said it’s late in the fourth quarter, and the clock is ticking.

“Right now, it’s looking like we might not, like we can’t do it,” she said. “If we don’t … I could not, could not stand the thought of these kids not taking this trip. And they worked so hard. The previous fundraiser we did is what got us through thus far. We played up and down the Northeastern region. Those were overnight trips. Money went to charter buses, hotel stays.”

Wray said she wants to see the Jaguars remain undefeated — on and off the field.

“These kids earned it,” she said. “They worked hard. They’re a tough little group.”

Originally Published: December 4, 2024 at 5:55 PM EST