When Mother Nature decides that she wants to rain on your parade, there isn’t anyone who can stop it. By late Friday afternoon, the rains had forced Mountainburg to shut down the North WCFL Jamboree. So with less than 24 hours, Mansfield had to double up on what was planned for their South Jamboree and instead host all 9 WCFL programs. Thankfully, on Saturday, August 24, the good Lord shined down on Tiger Stadium and kept the heavy rains away to where the crowds were able to watch some great Little League football. Players and fans from Mansfield, Hackett, Magazine, Mountainburg, Cedarville, JC Westside, West Fork, and Greenland, poured into Mansfield for what would turn out to be a great day of competitive scrimmages.
Mansfield Little League Football Treasurer/Secretary and WCFL Secretary, Adam Hecox said “It was quite a hectic situation at first. We got a late notice that we were going to host all of the teams in the league instead of the three teams we planned for. We had to take the times, schedules, and all of our original plans and trash them and start over from scratch. Coach Cothran graciously allowed us to use the field and gave us a few Sr High players to referee the scrimmages. David Moore, Steven Moore, and Jason Edwards pulled through big time for us as well and got everything put together to make it all run smoothly. All in all, everyone worked great together in a minimal amount of time to make it seem like we had planned it like this all along.”
The Mansfield players weren’t worried about the weather, who they played, or where they played them. They were focused on football and only football. The Tigers teams played each scrimmage as if it were the WCFL Championship game. Although a score was not kept, the Little League Tigers won their fair share when it came to shutting down opponent’s offenses and taking the ball to the end zone against their opponent’s defenses.
Mansfield 5th and 6th Grade Coach, Steven Moore said “I was very impressed with how our teams played Saturday. They took what they have learned in practice and executed it on the field very well. Even though these were scrimmages, we learned a lot about our player’s toughness and determination on the field. Our teams definitely showed up to play good football. Now we just have to take what we learned from the Jamboree, fix what mistakes we have, and get ready for our regular season opener against Mountainburg at home on September 7.”
They say success isn’t given, it’s earned. The Mansfield Little League Tigers have gone by the motto of “Earn It” over the past few years and they definitely backed those words up at Saturdays Jamboree. A few examples of their motto that came to light on Saturday included the board members and coaches who worked tirelessly to create a flawless and successful Jamboree. The Tiger players who backed up their motto on the field each and every play. And the fans of the Tigers who volunteered their time to the Jamboree while also supporting the Little League Football Program.
