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Junior World Championship (Canton, Jun 27-July 5)

USA junior football team provides boost during dreary summer, Terry Pluto says
by Terry Pluto, Plain Dealer Columnist
Tuesday June 30, 2009

NORTH CANTON -- There are seasons when Northeast Ohio sports fans need a story like this . . .

Maybe a summer when the Cavaliers were upset in the Eastern Conference Finals, when the Indians are in last place and when a .500 season for the Browns could inspire a parade down Euclid Avenue.

Perhaps time to hear about some young men playing football for all the right reasons.

Time to hear about Ohio kids heading to major colleges on football scholarships, and all of the Northern Ohio players have at least a 3.0 grade-point average. Maybe it's time to hear about Team USA, which faces Mexico tonight at 7 at Canton's Fawcett Stadium in the semifinals of the IFAF Junior World Championship.

A man with 10 state titles to his credit at St. Ignatius, Kyle found himself recruiting college coaches to allow some of their incoming freshmen to join the USA team. Kyle is too classy to mention the coaches who wanted to keep a firm grip on their recruits, but some big names from major powers did just that.

Instead, Kyle praised Ohio State's Jim Tressel.

"One phone call to him and we had two outstanding players," said Kyle, whose team is staying at Walsh University, along with the other seven teams.

Kyle was talking about Jack Mewhort and Storm Klein.

An offensive lineman from Toledo St. John's, Mewhort had a 3.4 grade-point average. He graduated in January and enrolled immediately at OSU. Klein is a linebacker from Licking Valley High. He had a 3.0 GPA and also graduated in January, then headed to Columbus.

Kyle said some players needed to spend the summer taking courses to help them start college on a solid academic ground, so it made no sense for them to play on this team. He also said the coaching staff also wanted to make sure the roster had young men who really do represent the best about high school football. No one figured out the team GPA, but a safe guess is that it's over 3.0.

None of Kyle's players were named first team high school All-Americans by USA Today. But there are nine players headed to the Big Ten, including Walsh Jesuit's Smith who is ticketed for Northwestern. In fact, Michigan State, Indiana, Northwestern and OSU each have two players on the team, the other player being from Wisconsin.

Syracuse supplied three players. Two each came from Oregon State, Baylor, Virginia Tech and Virginia. Then there's Kurt Stottlemyer, a safety headed to Yale who was named Seattle's top scholar athlete.

"We wanted great players with character," said Kyle. "And we got them."

USA junior football team provides boost during dreary summer, Terry Pluto says - cleveland.com
 
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Team USA has break, but must get serious against Mexico.
By Joe Frollo
CantonRep.com staff writer
Posted Jul 01, 2009

NORTH CANTON ? .Years from now, few who look back on the IFAF Junior World Championship will remember much of what happens today at Fawcett Stadium when the United States plays Mexico in a 7 p.m. semifinal.

Memories will center on Sunday?s championship and the celebration of whichever team claims gold.

That?s fine for everyone sitting in the stands.

Team USA head coach Chuck Kyle has a different message for his players.

?You don?t get to the gold-medal round without beating Mexico,? Kyle said Tuesday after Team USA went through a light, 75-minute workout at Walsh University. ?I can guarantee you this: Mexico is going to give you everything they have.?

Today
10 a.m. New Zealand vs. Germany
1 p.m. France vs. Sweden
4 p.m. Japan vs. Canada
7 p.m. United States vs. Mexico

Saturday
1 p.m. New Zealand-Germany loser vs. France-Sweden loser
4 p.m. New Zealand-Germay winner vs. France-Sweden winner
7 p.m. Bronze-medal game: Japan-Canada loser vs. United States-Mexico loser

Sunday
1 p.m. Gold-medal game: Japan-Canada winner vs. United States-Mexico winner

Team USA has break, but must get serious against Mexico - Canton, OH - CantonRep.com
 
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Buckeye Nut;1491997; said:
Canada got a scare from Japan, but came out on top 38-35. USA defeats Mexico 55-0, they led 27-0 after the 1st quarter. USA vs Canada on Sunday at 1 p.m. EST for the gold medal.

yep, should be fun to watch, although i hope they get different announcers. i cringed every time they talked about the mexican team discussing going to taco bell or when they said gibberish and "hahah i'm talking japanese now!"

i mean, i realize the dudes had been watching and commenting on mostly boring football games all day long, but that's probably not the kind of thing you want from your announcers at an event designed to promote a positive cultural exchange
 
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Team USA tops Mexico 55-0
From staff reports ? July 1, 2009

CANTON ? Team USA allowed a few more yards this time but still easily moved on to Sunday?s championship game.

The Americans, who allowed just 7 yards Saturday in a 78-0 opening victory against France, surrendered 35 on Wednesday in a 55-0 semifinal victory against Mexico in the International Federation of American Football Junior World Championship at Fawcett Stadium.

Licking Valley?s Storm Klein, who will be a freshman linebacker at Ohio State this fall, had one tackle and one pass defense in limited action Wednesday.

Team USA will face top-seeded Canada at 1 p.m. Sunday for the tournament title. Canada defeated Japan 38-35 earlier Wednesday.

Mexico won the coin toss and deferred, allowing Team USA to score on a 50-yard David Wilson run on the first play from scrimmage.

The Americans led 27-0 after the first quarter and 41-0 at halftime.

Team USA tops Mexico 55-0 | newarkadvocate.com | The Newark Advocate
 
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NightmaresDad;1492042; said:
That's sad to hear about all the Taco Bell jokes and stuff. You'd think they'd have more respect for Mexico's team.

Especially since, due to injuries, they had to go down to the local Home Depot and recruit some more players.

:slappy:

thats_racist.gif
 
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Bucknuts.com - Team USA Cruises Into Championship Final

By Steve Helwagen, Jeffery Williams
Posted Jul 2, 2009

Ohio State freshmen Storm Klein and Jack Mewhort helped Team USA take a 55-0 win over Mexico in a semifinal game at the 2009 World Junior Football Championship Wednesday at Canton. The gold medal game against Canada is next on Sunday. Click here for more.

Usually a reserved player, dominating in his physical stature, not his shy demeanor, Ohio State signee Jack Mewhort didn?t know how to react when he was sitting silently in the United State's lockerroom prior to playing Mexico Wednesday night and head coach Chuck Kyle of St. Ignatius handed him something.

It was an American flag.

And the 6-foot-6, 280-pound Toledo St. John?s graduate couldn't contain himself.

"I was just in the lockerroom getting ready for the game and coach Kyle came over with the flag and said, 'You?re taking it,' Mewhort, a starting offensive lineman for the U.S., said. "I walked to the front, and I'm not normally a real emotional guy, I usually go out there pretty calm but carrying that flag, in front of all these people, on our way to the gold medal round, it just got to me. I went nuts. It was awesome."

Continued...
 
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Canada and the United States have historically dominated the junior games over the years, with Canada winning the most recent international games hosted by the NFL Global Junior Championships.

Now that the NFL Global Junior Championships have given precedence to the IFAF (International Federation of American Football) Junior World Championships we should see a little more structure in the competition, as the IFAF actually did qualifying rounds for all the non-American teams (who didn't have to qualify since they are hosting the tournament).

Japan, who hasn't ever done much in the juniors games, came very close to beating the United States two years ago in the American's debut in the IFAF World Cup, so Japan isn't exactly new to international American Football. I would expect a pretty good game in the gold matchup, as these two teams seem to always play close.
 
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