The 5u Levelland Lobos football team has been as successful as any Hockley County sports team in recent memory as they’ve already won a league championship this year.
The special group of Emory Santos, Kenzo Leong, Bash Davis, Hayden Vargas, Cage Avery, Carlos Lopez, Crew Avery, Kaydence Rutherford and Kash Dawn now looks to add yet another championship to their resume but this time on a much larger stage at the home of the Dallas Cowboys, AT&T Stadium.
The little Lobos play in the Texas Fall Classic at Jerry World on Sunday, Oct. 26, which is a fiveon- five tournament, but before then they must first play preliminary games.
“On Saturday, Oct. 25, we’ll play three games at UT Arlington to see how they seed us for playing in AT&T Stadium,” 5u Levelland Football Head Coach Ketran Dawn said. “Then we’re guaranteed to play one game in AT&T Stadium and then you just keep playing until you lose. If we win, we’ll get championship rings and bragging rights like we did for the league here.”
Given that the little Lobos are the reigning champions of the Levelland league, they should be able to dominate at UT Arlington to earn a top seed for the tournament in Jerry World.
Coach Dawn stated that he’s confident not only that his team will earn that top seed, but also that they’ll win the whole thing and leave AT&T Stadium as champions. He might seem overzealous for putting so much confidence in kindergarteners, but he explained why.
“Their ability to listen, to adapt to whatever I throw at them and the fact they’re always having a good time and not letting anything affect their attitude out there,” Coach Dawn said. “I have one kid, when he got on the team he didn’t talk to anybody, he didn’t want to run, he just wanted to hand the ball off. Now, I’ve got this kid running touchdowns and pulling flags. I’ve watched all my little dudes grow since we’ve been doing this and it’s amazing to see.”
He would even go on to refer to the group as the “best kindergarteners in this town,” a claim that’s hard to dispute given their success.
The little Lobos have a great understanding of football for their age and along with that, they also understand how cool of an opportunity it is to play in Jerry World.
“They are super excited. All my players have been counting down the days until we go down there. Every practice they’re talking about it,” Coach Dawn said. “We’re trying to get together and do a couple five on five games to get ready for the tournament. I have my kindergartners playing against our first-grade team as a little prep work for Dallas.”
After already leading the little Lobos to so much success this season in his first year as the head coach, Coach Dawn is doing everything in his power to help his team achieve even more.
He coaches them for free, surrendering his Saturday’s regularly simply because he loves it, so to say a championship in Arlington would mean a lot to him is an understatement.
“It’d be awesome. I’d be chasing that high for a while after that because one, nobody here has done that, two, a lot of people don’t like to deal with five-yearolds for this thing so that’d be super cool,” Coach Dawn said. “For a lot of these guys, it’s their first year playing, so they will have won a ring in the Levelland league and then they will have went to Dallas against 120 teams and won a ring. I’d be a super happy man after that.”
If they win, along with championship rings, they’ll also receive championship flags and a championship team banner.
And even if they don’t win, they will still get to tour AT&T Stadium with the opportunity to see things such as the Cowboys Locker Room, the Postgame Interview Room and the Cowboys Cheerleaders Locker Room.
Spectators will have that same opportunity as well as the entry fee into Sunday’s tournament is purchasing the $25 AT&T Stadium Tour Pass.
Cash will only be accepted when paying to get in and there’s no ATM so plan accordingly, and parking is free and located in Entry E – Silver Lot 5, Overflow Lot 6.
The little Lobos hope leave with more than a tour experience though, and whether it’s in person or in spirit, they’ll have the support of the community as they represent Levelland and Hockley County on 5u football’s biggest stage with the chance to prove they’re the best in Texas.