The City of Ripon is known to have many youth sports, but one big one is its football and cheerleading. The Ripon Chiefs are a part of the Motherlode Valley Football League, which has been a tradition since 1985. During those years, their various squads have taken home the trophy for being the Super Bowl champions ten years with their 2016 season adding to that for both their Novice and Junior Varsity squads. Junior Varsity took home the win on Nov. 5, 2016, where they won over the Sonora Jr. Cats 30-0.
Ripon, who played Sonora earlier in the season and took home that win 40-0, still came prepared to play and fight hard.
“We knew Sonora would be tough the second time around, but the boys rose up for the occasion. They played hard and deserve to be champs”, said Coach Robert Villalovoz.
These boys went into the playoffs knowing it would be tough, where they took home the win in the first round against Escalon Outlaws. The second week proved to be harder, as they had to fight against the only team they’ve lost to this season, the Linden Lions, but they came out on top and became the Valley Division Champions, where they went on to the Super Bowl and won against Sonora. Throughout those three games being the playoffs and Super Bowl they had a total of 94 points and only gave up 6. In the end their final record for the 2016 season was 11-1.
The Junior Varsity coaches make sure these boys learn lots and in the end are the best they could be. They practice three nights a week and in each game make sure they rotate the players so that each one of the boys gets play time. They even had Ethan Day who stepped up during playoffs and the Super Bowl to take over a position he did not normally play after fellow teammate Isaiah San Nicolas got injured and was unable to play. Isaiah may have not been participating in the game but he was there every week to support them.
“I really love to play football. If I wouldn’t have broken my collar bone, I would play my heart out and I would never play for any other team,” said Isaiah San Nicolas.
During the Super Bowl, the boys as a team had some wonderful highlights with running back and safety Blake Nichelson making three touchdowns, two of them running touchdowns and one where he intercepted the ball and ran it back for a touchdown. Fullback and linebacker Caleb Johnston also made a running touchdown. Linebacker Leovanni Ochoa made two interceptions and defensive back Roman Villalovoz made 11 tackles. That is what makes a team, everyone playing together.
“The Chiefs offensive line played the best game they had played all season, and they had a great aggressive defense”, said Coach Villalovoz.
The Super Bowl may be over, but now Head Coach Mike Kelly will take the squad’s All Star boys to play one final game where the Valley teams will go against the Motherlode teams. In this game, you can’t take everyone, so congratulations on the six Ripon Chiefs Junior Varsity boys who will be attending All Stars this year. Caleb Johnston, Blake Nicholson, Ethan Day, Leovanni Ochoa, Cesar Castellanos and Jory Sarratt.
With a Super Bowl win under their belts, Ripon must be proud to have the Ripon Chiefs Junior Varsity football players with their city.
