The Clovis Rebels are your 2022 Cen-Cal League Champions of the Juniors Division.
This football championship occurred last Saturday, November 19th, and is something that this team and their coaches will never forget.
The Juniors Division consists of players coming from the 3rd and 4th grade, and more specifically for the Clovis Rebels, students coming from the area of Buchanan High School. This includes schools such as Century, Cole, Dry Creek, Garfield, Tarpey, and Woods Elementaries.
The Cen-Cal Football league is made up of young student-athletes, ranging from the ages of Kindergarten all the way to the 6th grade. The Juniors division, right in the middle of that age range, is divided by the “PeeWees” division which goes from Kindergarten to Second Grade, and the “Seniors” division which are 5th and 6th graders.
The Rebels played in nine regular season games before the November Playoff circuit, and during that playoff run they went 2-0 giving them a perfect 11-0 season.
According to Athletic Director for the Rebels, Scott Wilson, the regular season went as well as expected. The Rebels, coming off of an 11-0 2021 campaign, went undefeated once more in 2022, boasting another impressive 11-0 run.
“To go undefeated with a 22-0 record says a lot about the coaches.”
Those coaches, at the top of five assistant coaches, stands Head Coach and Offensive Coordinator Aaron Hernandez, and Defensive Coordinator John Capriola. Scott Wilson claims that the Rebels only gave up about 30 points all season, giving all the credit to the defensive minded coaches under the lead of Capriola.
Coming time for the playoffs, in addition to the talented players showing out for the most important of games, Wilson recollected the atmosphere coming from the stands as parents watched their children play on the Clovis North Field.
“They [the playoffs] were exciting. We played back to back weeks, and to have the atmosphere and Saturday night’s game that was under the lights at Clovis North, it was exciting. The stands on our side were definitely loud and it was a very impressive atmosphere for these kids.”
Those kids would end up winning that Championship game under the lights by a tight score of 6-0 against the Clovis North represented Juniors team the Clovis Stampede. The Rebels scored on their first drive of the game, but after that there were no points scored by either team for the remainder of regulation.
The Rebels’ football team aren’t the only ones who got to celebrate the championship however. The Rebelettes, the Clovis Rebels’ Cheer Squad also reveled in glory Saturday evening, as they too will share the championship with the football team. The cheerleaders, much like the football team, represent the younger generation of the Buchanan High School area, and take the time to honor those who have come before them.
According to the Clovis Rebels website, the number 8 is represented on each of the Clovis Rebels Cheer skirts and Rebels football helmets so as to honor the 8 men from Buchanan High School who lost their lives serving in Iraq while in the military.
No matter the circumstance, historically, there are those who are remembered and those who some choose not to forget. Now, as of last Saturday, November the 19th, this 2022 Clovis Rebels Team, will forever be memorialized as 2022 Champions.