Community sports | Pop Warner season comes to an end for Manatee County
The final two area teams competing in the Pop Warner Little Scholars region football playoffs bowed out Saturday with a pair of second-round shutout losses in Miami. The junior pee wee Manatee Mustangs feel to the Sarasota Sun Devils 6-0 in the first game at North Miami Stadium and the pee wee Mustangs followed with a 13-0 loss to the Parkland Rangers.
The Sun Devils and Rangers both advance to the state finals Saturday in Land O' Lakes where they will face the Port Orange Hawks and the Port St. Lucie Pirates, respectively, at the Land O' Lakes Recreation Complex.
But Saturday was also a celebration for one Manatee County Pop Warner club. The tiny mites Manatee Wildcats took to G.T. Bray park in Bradenton to celebrate an undefeated season, the first in more than a decade for the Wildcats' tiny mites team.
The tiny mites division doesn't participate in the Pop Warner postseason.
Wreaking Havoc
Suncoast Travel Ball returns to Manatee County this weekend for one of its biggest tournaments of the year. Seven age groups will be represented across eight divisions at Braden River Little League from Friday to Sunday for the Wreaking Havoc Championship in Bradenton.
Area teams will be competing in the 14U, 13U, 12U and 11U divisions. There
are also 10U, 9U and 8U divisions, plus an 8U machine pitch division.
The oldest age group is the most heavily represented for county teams. The West Coast 9 Devils, LWR Mustangs and Inspiration Academy will all be fielding teams to go along with the West Coast Scorpions' Purple and Blue teams.
The 13U, 12U and 10U divisions also have multiple teams. The WC Scorpions, Florida Fusion and Beachdawgs will all field 13U teams. In 12U, PowerMax Baseball and the Cortez Stone Crabs will compete. And in 10U, the Stone Crabs and Mustangs Elite will both field teams.
Cortez's 11U team rounds out will also compete in the Wreaking Havoc Championship.
David B. Wilson, sports reporter, can be reached at 745-7057 or via email at dwilson@bradenton.com. Follow him on Twitter @DBWilson2.
This story was originally published November 17, 2015 at 12:13 AM with the headline "Community sports | Pop Warner season comes to an end for Manatee County ."