Local football fans know that the Mount Si varsity football team has enjoyed success this season. What many of those fans may not know, however, is that the Wildcat football program’s future is very bright, indeed, as evidenced by the success of one of their junior football squads this season.

The Wildcat Junior Football program’s Sophomore White team, consisting of fifth through seventh graders from the Valley, recently completed an 8-1 season, with their only loss coming in their final game of the season, a playoff defeat Sunday, Oct. 27 to Cedarcrest’s sophomore junior team at Mount Si High School. Prior to that loss, the Wildcat team racked up eight straight wins, six of which were by 20 points or more. The secret to their success was what is known as a “single-wing” offense.

“With the single wing this year, the first thing we did is taught the kids how to block,” said head coach Randy Swain, who is in his fourth season with the junior football program. “In youth football, we run power football, and kids are better going right than they are left. So the very first two or three practices, we taught the kids that it’s called G.O.D., ‘gap on down.’ All the kids have to remember is gap — somebody in the gap, somebody on them, or the next guy down. When you teach kids how to block on the line, that’s the apex for our single wing offense.”

The single wing offense is similar to the Bellevue Wolverines’ “Wing-T” offense, which has been very successful for them at the high school level. It was made famous during the 1920s by legendary coach Pop Warner, who designed the offense in order to capitalize on the talent of a player named Jim Thorpe.

While the team has been successful on the field, this group of young players is also successful off it as well, and their coaches make sure of that.

“My philosophy is to make young men out of them,” Swain said. “It’s a very unique group of kids; you’ll never hear cussing or anything on the sidelines. We have policies that if you don’t make a practice, you call the coach.

“Probably 5 percent of these kids will go to the high school level, so first thing for me is to teach kids how to be young men,” he added. “Respect their coaches, respect their players, respect their parents.”

Swain also emphasizes with his players the importance of balancing school with the team.

“I ask the kids about their homework all the time,” he said. “I want them to do their homework. I’d love to have an open line of communication with the teachers. Maybe at the high school level they do that; I think they should do that at the junior level.”

Wildcat junior football is affiliated with the Greater Eastside junior football association, and teams in this association come from virtually all Kingco high school attendance areas along with teams from Cedarcrest and Bainbridge. The well-known Bellevue and Skyline junior football programs are affiliated with the GEJFA. There were a total of 35 teams competing in the sophomore division this season, and according to Swain’s assistant coach, Wes Dover, the Wildcat team’s performance was as far as he knew, the best junior team from the Valley that anyone can remember.

“It is an awesome program for young kids,” Swain said.