Sean Richardson, this year’s collegiate coach for the FYFL, and his team begin their final season with the Sierra Youth Football League on Saturday with the SYFL Experience. The regular season begins next week.
SYFL Experience returns to Fallon
FALLON — For the first time since 2019, the Sierra Youth Football League Experience will kick off the youth football and cheer season.
One of the biggest football events in the region will stop at the Edward Arciniega Athletic Complex on Saturday. Fallon Youth Football League will host the SYFL Experience scrimmage and weigh-in and check-in event, where more than 7,000 players, coaches and families will journey to Fallon.
“You want the opportunity for the players to have an icebreaker game before they take field for the first time of season,” first-year FYFL Commissioner Anthony Juarez said. “It’s a good opportunity for the coaching staff to see where their players are at. For some of these kids, it’s the first time in a full-contact sport.”
Teams from Douglas, Reno, Damonte Ranch, Hug, McQueen, North Valleys, Wooster, Spanish Springs, Sparks, Reed, Lassen, Fernley and Fallon converge at the complex to scrimmage and record weights one week before the regular season begins.
Gates open at 6:30 a.m. and weigh-ins begin at 7 a.m. followed by scrimmages starting at 9 a.m. There is a $5 admission fee for non-players and coaches. Children ages 3-12 are free.
Families and spectators are encouraged to arrive early for the event due to high traffic volume. The FYFL is working with the local high school, city government and law enforcement to ensure smooth coordination. Entrance and parking to the all-day event are off Sheckler Cutoff, south of the high school campus.
Vendors will be available during the day, including the Fallon Quarterback Club, which is one of the primary food vendors. Local athletics clubs, like the high school’s sports programs, will also be at the Experience.
Juarez said the community has been great in helping FYFL and the Fallon high school football program work together in putting on another kickoff to the youth season.
FYFL is coming off a successful 2021 season after two teams won the championship. This year’s JV and Collegiate teams haven’t lost during the playoffs. Sean Richardson’s Collegiate team is aiming to become only the second group of players to win a championship every season. The first and last to accomplish the feat was the 2016 Fallon senior class that won the high school state championship.
Fallon’s now-JV team defeated Spanish Springs, 34-6, to win the freshman title, while the Greenwave defeated Reed, 26-0, to win the varsity division. Both Fallon teams finished without a loss during the regular season to earn the No. 1 seed for the playoffs.
“That run started in 2006,” Juarez said of the program’s only band of players to never lose a championship. “That’s the ultimate goal for (Fallon football coach) Brooke (Hill) to have success and the community. It’s huge for us to see these young men continue on. When they (FYFL) go to the football games on Friday nights, (the high schoolers) are setting the stage. They see friends, family on the field and then get opportunity on Saturday morning or afternoon. It’s exciting to watch them grow.”
Juarez takes over for Richardson and Steve Moon, who have put FYFL in a strong position to feed players into Hill’s high school program. Hill’s team upset the region’s No. 1 team in the playoffs last year before falling in the state semifinals.
“After working with Sean Richardson and Steve Moon, I’ve seen the product they put out in Fallon,” said Juarez, who’s been coaching since 2016 and leads this year’s JV team. “It’s been a real quality program. I want to do my part and keep it in a high regard and compete at highest division.”
The regular season begins Aug. 13, almost two weeks earlier than last year, and ends with the championship games on Oct. 29. The championship games end earlier due to allowing the winning teams an opportunity to compete in the American Youth Football regional tournament in Las Vegas on Nov. 10-11. All SYFL games are played on Saturdays on high school fields.
The SYFL cheerleading competition is Nov. 4.
