The Bonham 5th grade youth football team travels to Gunter for the Texoma Youth Football League (TYFL) Championships this weekend (Nov. 5) in hopes of bringing home a Super Bowl trophy.

The team qualified with a 7-2 season and then followed up with a playoff victory over the Celina 5th grade team.   This is the same Celina 5th grade that had gone undefeated in the 4 previous years while winning the Super Bowl each of those years.  

This will also be the first year that any Bonham team in grades 3 thru 6 have made it to the Super Bowl.

Bonham will be facing a tough undefeated Sanger team.    Earlier this year in district play Bonham was the only team to score against Sanger.

The Bonham 5th graders began practice the first week of August when the scorching heat often reached 105F.   The rapid ascent of this team developed with decisive victories over both the Sherman 5th grade team and Sherman 5th/6th grade along with wins over Anna 5th/ 6th grade, Van Alstyne, Pottsboro and Celina.  The coaching staff is very proud of the hard work these boys have put in to reach this point but is especially proud of the character and good sportsmanship they have exhibited while representing the city of Bonham.

The Texoma Youth Football League is comprised of over 800 student/athletes and 8 participating cities.  The league is made up of boys ages 5 to 12 from Anna, Bonham, Celina, Gunter, Sanger, Sherman, Tom Bean and Van Alstyne.  TYFL was founded in 2003 and is deemed one of the most competitive youth football leagues in North Texas. 

Kickoff is at 3:00 p.m. on Saturday.

The 2011 Bonham 5th grade roster includes:

Nick Ariela                  Safety

Gaige Cravin -             Wide receiver

Oscar DelaRosa          Defensive Guard

Ronnie Fuller               Outside linebacker

JQ  Fuller                     Safety

Drew Johnson              Nose Guard

Daylon Kinkade         Defensive Tackle

Matthew Mitchell -      Center

Kenny Nguyen             Left Tackle

Dylan Porter                Quarterback

Sam Porter -                Left  Guard

Tyler Rodriguez           Wide receiver

Noah Shellman            Tailback

Chris Stevens -            Right Guard

Hayden Stevenson      Wingback

Josh Ukpe                     Fullback

Blake Wells -                Right Tackle

Daniel Dowling             Left Tackle

The team was cheered to victory at each game by the following cheerleaders:   Abegail Smith, Annahlee Smith, Averi Reeves, Bailee Nichols, Cynthia De La Garza, Grace Wilson, Journi Shellman, Karis Stevenson and Sydney Johnson.

The coaching staff includes:  Joe Shellman- head coach, Marc Mitchell- defensive coordinator, Ken Porter- offensive coordinator, and assistant coaches- Chris Stevenson, Mike Kinkade and Mike Porter