Forget Alabama, Patriots-There’s a Football Dynasty in Kennewick

We hear so much about football teams such as the New England Patriots, Alabama Crimson Tide, Bellevue High School (Washington state 3A) that consistently win year after year. But there's a youth football league group in Kennewick who've been nearly as successful.

Since 1994, the Kennewick Grid Kid Colts Youth Football organization has won 25 league championships, and since 2000, 9 of what are called The Founder's Trophy.

Kennewick Grid Kids has 8 organizations, each with five teams based upon age and athlete size. Starting with 6-7 and small 8 year-olds at E, then D, C, B, and A which is for 12-13 year olds, the Colts play seven regular season games at each level - just like the other 7 organizations. There are also the Rams, Tigers, Bears, Coyotes, Huskies and Eagles.

Since 1994, the Colts have won an astounding 25 regular season titles between their five age groups.  The Founder's trophy goes to the organization that has the most total wins between their five teams.  Since 2000, the Colts have won it 9 times, including the last five in a row, and 6 of the last 7 since 2009.

Each season, entry level players who sign up go through a mini try-out, where they run a variety of simple drills, and the coaches of all the teams take and compare notes. All the players are then drafted, or placed on a team. With a few exceptions, it works pretty much like the NFL draft.  What makes the Colt's success all the more remarkable is that the teams with lesser records, and fewer players get to pick first in most cases.

That puts even more emphasis on the quality of coaching and leadership to mold these young boys (and girls!) into athletes who have fun and play well. The entire league also celebrates a Pink Week during October, and between the teams and cheerleaders, raises thousands of dollars for the Tri-Cities Cancer Center. (hence, the pink socks and stripes during that week).

Saturday October 31st, the Colts had a chance to become the first Kennewick organization to EVER have all five teams qualify for their respective championship games, or the Super Bowl, which is played the first Wednesday in November, at Lampson Stadium.  While two of the teams fell short in tough games, three of the five will be there.

The Super Bowl games starts at 3pm Wednesday, November 4th, and it's only $1 to get in. Everyone is welcome to come down, the E squad title game is first, followed by D, C, B, and A - each slated to start about 15 minutes after the previous game is over.

My little girl Harley is following in her brother Dhylan's footsteps, she is a defensive lineman on the E squad. During his five years, two of his Colts teams made it to the big game. He's now a sophomore offensive lineman at Kamiakin.

Considering  the ever-changing face of sports, kids, schedules and more, the Colt's success is a testament to the dedication and hard work of a lot of coaches, parents and players who want to learn, have fun, and win.