Illinois Jr. Celtics Finally 'Knock Down The Door', Win National Title

MOKENA, IL — Mike Vita has taken youth football teams to the Pop Warner Super Bowl before, which provided him with a first-hand look at the work required to return to Mokena having won the whole thing.

But when his Illinois Jr. Celtics 13-U team made its way to Orlando earlier this month, Vita felt as if this team — comprised of seventh and eighth graders from around the Southland region — just may have what it took to capture the program’s first national title. He wasn’t wrong.

The 13-U Jr. Celtics closed out a week-long stay in Orlando with a 30-0 victory over the Abington (Pa.) Raiders in the Pop Warner national championship game to provide the Mokena-based program with its first title. The victory capped a magical playoff run that required three playoff victories to reach Camping World Stadium in Orlando, where the Jr. Celtics won three more times, including a 48-40 triple-overtime thrilling victory over a tough California team to reach the title game.

For a program that just started in 2019 and brings players in from Mokena, New Lenox, Bolingbrook, Frankfort, Harvey, Markham, Calumet City, Crown Point (Ind.), and Lowell (Ind.)

The message throughout the playoff run that started in the greater Chicago area and ended with the title in Orlando never changed: Just be you and play your game. Over the course of the run, Vita watched as his players circled around one another and relied on the philosophy of “hold the rope” to leave Florida with the national championship.

“It was just an amazing feeling for everyone involved,” said Vita, who coaches the 13-U Jr. Celtics along with assistant coach Andre Moore. “For players, coaches, parents ­— for the entire organization ….it was a great feeling for me and my boys to finally knock that (championship) door down.”

While many Pop Warner-level teams come from one community, the Illinois Jr. Celtics draw players from a collection of towns and cities that stretch into Northwest Indiana. The football training level is different and includes extensive film study and training methods used by high school football programs that helps to place the Jr. Celtics on a different level than other youth football programs.

But Vita says that the program also teaches lessons because of the types of backgrounds that players come from given the geographic reach the Jr. Celtics have. The championship now sets a new standard for the Jr. Celtics program, which has sent at least one — if not multiple teams from various age groups — to the national championships every year since 2019 when the program was started. Regardless of the age group, though, Vita said his program will always be more than just about football.

“Diversity is huge with our program. That’s a thing that we preach — love and respect no matter what the color of your skin is,” Vita said. “That’s something we want to preach from a very young age from 5-6 years old all the way to 13-U. But to bring all the boys together and watch them bond over football and to become more than teammates and become more like brothers …to watch them become a brotherhood is really special.”