A team of 29 youth football players from Point Loma arrived in Florida this week to win a championship.
The Point Loma Pointers, a Jr. Pee Wee division Pop Warner team from the Peninsula, is in Lake Buena Vista, Fla., where they will compete in the Pop Warner Super Bowl against the Southeast Dallas Wolverines on Friday, Dec. 9 at the ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex.
The Pointers beat the Title Town Titans 25-6 on Tuesday, Dec. 6 in Florida.
The Pointers earned this winner’s bracket game by shutting out the Lenape Valley Indians, from Pennsylvania, 32-0 last Saturday to improve their record to 14-0 on the year.
In that game, Pointer quarterback Matthew Pentland completed seven of eight passes, three of them for touchdowns. One scoring pass went to Drake Cobb and two were snared by Jackson Emerson.
The final score was made on a seven-yard run by Chris Kohli while placekicker Aaron Lee kicked a 17-yard field goal, was two of three on extra points and ran in a two-point conversion.
The Titans, from South Georgia, moved on by blasting the Milford Eagles (South Connecticut) 40-7 also last Saturday.
During the regular season, every one of the Pointers’ games had a “mercy rule” ending in which one team has a large lead and the remainder of the game is played with a running clock. Local prep football includes a similar rule. Of course, there are some distractions for the players, most who attend Dana Middle School. The primary activity is three days of scheduled visits to Walt Disney World theme park spread around practices and required study hall time.
The team head coach is Pete Balistreri, a 1996 Point Loma High alum. Balistreri played quarterback during his prep days and also was a four-year baseball player. He went on to play football at SDSU before a knee injury ended his playing career.
His son Rocco is a member of the Pointer team.
After earning a degree in graphic design in 2001, Balistreri has been involved in the startup and growth of popular local restaurant Tender Greens, first as executive chef locally and now for San Diego and Orange County.
There are six other coaches.
