N. Phila. teams have 'Super Bowl' dreams

A Philadelphia football team on the verge of going to the Super Bowl? Yep, make that two.

A hardscrabble Philadelphia youth football club is looking to return to the Super Bowl with two of its seven teams.

The North Philadelphia Aztecs, whose 100-pound team won the 2004 Pop Warner Super Bowl at Disney World in Florida, have two teams just a game away from the 2007 Super Bowl series. They would have to win two games in Florida next month to gain a national championship, league officials said.

In addition, the Aztecs' "midget" girls' cheerleader squad will compete in the Pop Warner National Cheer and Dance Championships, also next month at Disney World.

Before getting a trip to Florida, the two Aztec teams face pivotal weekend games.

"I believe we are going to win. I'm going to make you believe you will win. I'm not going to quit, so you don't quit," coach Wayne Allen shouted to his team of 14- and 15-year-olds at an evening practice this week at Hunting Park, Ninth Street and Hunting Park Avenue.

Tomorrow, the Aztecs' 160-pound "midget" team will face the Marshall Heights Bisons of Washington, D.C., and the Aztecs' 120-pound "pee-wee" team will take on the Beacon House Falcons, also of Washington. Both games will be played at Toms River South High School in Toms River, N.J.

The pee-wee game will start at 3 p.m. and the midget game at 5:30, a league official said.

Pop Warner football began in Philadelphia in 1929. Now known as Pop Warner Little Scholars, the program has more than 425,000 boys and girls on football and cheerleader teams across the country, officials said. Its headquarters is in Langhorne.

Allen, a construction worker whom his players call "Coach Wiz," said: "I'm pretty excited about getting these kids an opportunity to go to other places."

He meant taking them away from the tough streets of North Philadelphia. Allen and the other coaches work to inspire the players with the team motto: "Believe in your dreams. Believe in your goals."

Allen, who has coached since the club was founded 15 years ago, noted the ages of his players and the obstacles teen boys often face in the inner city. "This is a hard age growing up. Some got moms; some got dads," he said.

Allen said he and others used a combination of "discipline and fundamentals" to motivate the players.

Each player must maintain good grades in school and stay out of trouble to play with the Aztecs, he said.

Aztecs running back William Allen, 15, a freshman at Frankford High School who is not related to the coach, said the players thrived on the discipline.

"Everybody is keeping their grades together, staying focused on football, and getting their homework done," he said.

That discipline and a strong running game helped his team defeat the White Oak Warriors of Silver Spring, Md., 20-18, on Saturday to advance to the Eastern U.S. final tomorrow.

Despite drizzly weather Tuesday, the team practiced on a rutted field, dotted with puddles in the early evening darkness.

Looking up at the field's single bank of lights, which was missing a few bulbs, Coach Allen said: "We're playing in the dark, but that's what we do. We're cool until they start daylight saving time."

Amid the drizzle, Aztecs player Nate Smith, 15, of the city's Olney section, said: "It feels good. It's football weather, baby."

On a sideline of an adjacent field, Carl Bohannan watched as his son Daquan and nephew Daniel Medina, both 12, and their pee-wee teammates were drilled by coach Anthony Summers.

Bohannan said the boys were excited about the possibility of advancing to the Super Bowl.

"I'm just as hyped as them," said Bohannan, who lives in the city's Fairmount section.

On Saturday, the pee-wee team defeated the Marlow Heights (Md.) Hurricanes to advance to tomorrow's game.

Bohannan said playing football had helped his nephew improve his schoolwork.

"My nephew used to always have problems in school. . . . He's done a complete 360. A lot of this goes to the Aztecs organization," Bohannan said.