Future Blue Devils win national football crown

CASEY CROWE
Tucson Citizen

Champions breed champions.

That seems to be the case on the city's South Side, the base for the Southwest Rams, this year's American Youth Football League midget division national champions.

Many of the Rams' players will play in the future for Sunnyside High, which is going for its second Class 4A state title in three years.

Second-year coach Ron Vorel guided the Rams, ages 13 to 15, to a 13-0 season which ended with a 24-16 triumph over the Gardena (Calif.) Mohicans in the national title game at Gardena High School.

The Rams won city and regional titles before beating the Boron Wildcats from Los Angeles 52-6 in the semifinals.
Not far from Mission Manor Park, the site of the Rams' practice field, is Sunnyside, the city's current dominant 4A football program.

The Blue Devils play Glendale Cactus for the state championship Saturday afternoon at Sun Devil Stadium in Tempe.

"I think its fair to say that coach Sanchez is pretty interested in our team coming up," Vorel said. "A lot of our kids will be headed to him."

Quarterback James Valdez, running backs Jevon Stevenson and Adam Florez, safety Alex Leon, and linebacker Richard Cintron were among the future Blue Devils who helped lead the Rams.

"The majority of the kids on (the 2003 Sunnyside) team came from the Rams," Devils assistant coach Dale Perkins said. "A lot of those kids now on the Rams will be freshman at Sunnyside next year, just coming into the program."