Manville’s Pop Warner football season in jeopardy.
By: Donna Lukiw
A final registration session scheduled for Saturday may determine if Manville’s Pop Warner football team will be able to take to the field in the fall.
According to Manville Youth Athletic League officials, registrations for MYAL programs are nearing all-time low numbers, despite successful cheerleading programs and other successes in recent years.
"Some towns are booming," MYAL Vice President Ken Shaefer said about the other Pop Warner teams. "I don’t know maybe it’s because we’re a small town."
"We’ve tried everything. We hung up banners around town and sent out fliers to the schools."
Mr. Shaefer said last year there were only two teams.
"Unfortunately, the numbers are less this year," Mr. Shaefer said.
Last year, both teams needed at least 16 players to field a team for games. The Colts had 11 eligible players those who were of age and weight limits, while the Ponies had 14 on the field.
While Cheerleading Commissioner Katie Ader expects all the Manville Pop Warner Cheerleaders to return from last year, she said the cheerleading and football teams have been struggling with getting enough players to even make up a team.
"It is extremely less," Ms. Ader said. "We don’t even have half of the girls yet."
Ms. Ader said last year the cheerleading program had four teams including the Mavericks, Ponies, Pintos and Colts.
"We combined the flag team (Mavericks) and Jr. Pee Wees (Ponies) to cheer at the flag games and the Pee-Wee (Pintos) and Midget (Colts) teams to cheer at the Pee Wee game," Ms. Ader said. "Two out of three teams went to the Regional Competition at Sovereign Arena in Trenton in November, major accomplishment for the Manville Pop Warner cheerleading program."
Although there is still time to register, only about 15 players have registered so far for the football team.
But a team needs at least 16 players to compete.
"Eventually, if it doesn’t pick up we’ll get kicked out of our league," Mr. Shaefer said. "Ideally, we need 22 players but we need at least 16 for a team."
Mr. Shaefer said there is still time to register including this Saturday from 9 a.m. to 12 p.m. at Gerber Field and during the carnival at Gerber Field from June 13 to 17.
The Ponies are children between the ages of 8 and 10 years old, who weigh between 55 and 100 pounds. The Colts can range in age from 12 to 15 with the 12 through 14 year olds weight limit at 150 and the 15-year-olds being 130 pounds or less.
Last year, Ponies coach Dave Janovsky had to tell his players their season was done before it even started when the team didn’t find enough players.
The Colts, who were hoping to find more players last year and get back on the field, and had to cancel games because of short rosters.
The football program is open to anyone between the ages of 5 and 15.
The 5- to 7-year-olds make up the flag football team Mavericks and the 10- to 12-year-olds play on the Pintos team but besides age, the players are also separated by weight.

