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Nevada Little League Football thrives
Nevada Little League Football has established itself as the place to be for developing young football players.
This past NLLF season, which wrapped up its 15th year on Saturday at the Twin Lakes Park field near the Frank E. Peters Golf Course, is thriving at an all-time high.
There are three teams each from Nevada, Fort Scott and Lamar in grades 5-6 while in grades 3-4 there are three Nevada squads, two from Fort Scott and two from Lamar.
There are approximately 320 kids playing, including an approximate total of 170 from Nevada.
"It's a good indication of how things are run when we get teams from Lamar and we get Fort Scott teams coming here," Nevada Raiders fifth-sixth grade coach Mike Wyant said. "It's a good league to participate in."
"The facilities are awesome," Lamar Razorbacks coach Jeff Tucker said Saturday before his team played the Fort Scott Broncos in the championship game. "(NLLF President) Jody (Norcross) runs the league and everything about it is the best. From top-notch people running it, to the referees, to the facilities."
Many coaches and administrators remain involved in the league after their kids get too old for the NLLF because they simply love football.
"I love the game," said Norcross, who helped start the biddy league in 1989 and brought games to Nevada just three years later.
"The kids too. There is nothing more fun than seeing the kids I've had here grow up and have success. I see them two years later and don't even recognize them. They change so much."
The field has remained in remarkable condition, especially when considering there are seven games played every Saturday.
"This has to be the best Little League football facility I've ever seen," Tucker said. "They put in bermuda grass this year. It's like carpet out there."
"We re-did the field this year through the volunteers who work with the program," Wyant said.
The older kids played eight-minute quarters and eight games on Saturdays during the fall. Grades 3-4 competed in seven games and had six-minute quarters.
Games started at 10 a.m. and continued until around 9 p.m.
The fifth and sixth-grade Raiders had a 4-3 record and won three straight entering its final game.
"We got off to a slow start and came on strong at the end of the season," Wyant said. "Finally, we got an understanding of what we want done.
"The biggest thing in this league is confidence. It took us a little while to get there."
Norcross pointed out one of the primary reasons the league is thriving is due to Shannon Jolley, who just recently completed his first season as head football coach at Nevada High School.
"The program is probably in the best shape its ever been in because of our new head coach," Norcross said. "That's not saying other coaches didn't care ... Coach Jolley sat down with us and implemented some of his offense with us.
"Coach Jolley puts a lot of time and effort into our program," Norcross continued. "The kids appreciate the heck out of it."