Sabin Saints

The Sabin Middle School football team, the Saints, went undefeated in Colorado Springs this season. They went on to win the 2009 Flatirons State Youth Football Tournament in their division.

The eighth-graders have impressed their coaches — and Colorado Springs resident Audrey Kopp, whose son Jason, 24, is the defensive coach.

Praise for the team

“While they went undefeated here in Colorado Springs, they went to Denver to play in a four-week tournament and went undefeated again winning the championship game,” wrote Audrey Kopp.“These boys played under cold, harsh weather, plus one game they played was on a Thursday night and it didn’t get started until 9 p.m. Needless to say the team did not get back till 1 a.m.

"These boys are good mentors for other 13-year-olds because they worked hard for this accomplishment. They had the best sportsmanship, and respect for the other teams they played.”

Coach Patrick Littrell has a couple of theories why the team did so well: “District 11 basically two years ago started the process of integrating the middle schools in District 11 into the park and recreation football program … and starting spring football about two years ago to help kids learn football. So the extra season plus integrating into the middle school levels — there’s a seventh-grade and eighth-grade team … has allowed us to play and practice as much as we can.”

Defensive coach Jason Kopp said that playing football has benefits for the kids. “They create bonds with each other,” he said. “They’re going to create friendships that last their entire lives. After awhile we become one big family, and the atmosphere that creates, that’s something they’ll remember forever. And the season is definitely unforgettable for these guys, because they’ll be going off to high school and they’ll remember being undefeated.”