Some say New Yorkers are cold and mean, but when it’s time to show up and support a cause, that’s just what we do. This weekend’s Pop Warner Football Super Bowl was another example of this fact.
Brooklyn’s Mo Better Jaguars team made it to the Pop Warner Super Bowl after beating teams from California and Indiana in the DII 9U bracket.
But the excitement of the win was temporarily stymied as the team lacked the finances to make the trip to Orlando, Fl to compete in the Super Bowl.
They started a GoFundMe page and solicited donations, but the outlook looked bleak as funding wasn’t coming in quickly enough.
Cheryl Wray, the team’s program director, was worried that she would have to break the hearts of the youngsters who practiced and sacrificed for months to reach the big game. To do that to a team that went 15-0 would be devastating.
Enter Brooklyn.
Once the story went viral across local media outlets, more donors got involved, including Junior’s Restaurant and Nasco Stone + Tile, both based in Brooklyn.
Thanks to that last-minute support, the Jaguars not only made it to Orlando, but they beat the Titletown Titans from Georgia, 13-7, to claim the Pop Warner Super Bowl in their division.
“It’s amazing. I’m overwhelmed. I’m still in awe,” said Cheryl Wray, the team’s program director in an interview with the New York Daily News. “I’m so grateful to the city of New York and the people who reached out and supported us.”
To make the win even sweeter, player Ron Rollock went viral with his one-handed, Odell Beckham Jr. catch during the game.
“It just happened,” said Rollock of his OBJ-esque snag. “I don’t know how it happened.”
The team also spent time at Disney World and Sea World in between practicing, doing their homework and getting ready for the final game.
“Winning the tournament and bringing the big trophy home is something they will remember for the rest of their lives,” said Wray. “Most of the boys had never even been on an airplane.”
Thanks to the city’s most populous borough, these young boys were able to accomplish many things that many of them probably hadn’t even envisioned.
That’s how you spread love the Brooklyn way.
