CYFL, Clay County Titans come together to form one unified youth football league

For the last several years, there’s been two youth football teams – the Clay Youth Football League, a recreational youth league located in the heart of Brazil, and the Clay County Elite Youth Football League Titans, a traveling youth football team based out of Clay County – coexisting in Clay County.

That will no longer be the case.

After months of talks and weekend meetings, the pair of organizations have come together to form one unified youth football league under the title ‘Northview Youth Football’ for the community to rally around.

“We’re now unified,” said newly elected Clay Youth Football League president Jordan Forquer, who also serves as Northview High School’s offensive and defensive line coach. “We’re hitting the ground running. Everybody is very much onboard and put a lot of effort and time into this. We’re now excited to let the public know about it.”

What was the reason for consolidating the two programs into one? The want – and need after looking at how other football programs around the Wabash Valley and state of Indiana have successfully done – to create a feeder program that benefits each of the first-sixth graders’ development as well as the middle school and high school teams by being on the same page.

“Myself, [Northview football head coach] Mark Raetz and [Northview offensive coordinator] Jonathan Bradshaw came together and we were like, ‘Hey, we can’t have a divided youth league. From the ground up, we have to be unified. From the youth league all the way up to high school.’ And so, we got together with the president of the Titans and the president of the CYFL and made some changes. After a lot of talks and a lot of late nights in figuring out the details, we are going to be a unified youth football program,” said Forquer.

“For us to have a true feeder system, we need it to be unified and not divided. Our biggest strength is our community. Mark says it all of the time. We’re a blue collared, tight-knit town and if it’s divided, it’s not going to be successful,” Forquer continued. “We want to have a true feeder system. We’re going to do some revamping and take our terminology and schemes [from the high school team] and implement them into the youth programs. We’re going to be a little bit more involved than we used to be, but we want it to be as successful as it can be.”

The changes, which includes a new governing board that was recently elected – President Jordan Forquer; Vice President Don Sims; President of Grounds Chad Jordan; Treasurer Austin Staley; and Secretary Brittany Bays – went into effect at the start of the New Year, although as Forquer noted, there won’t be as many changes as it might seem on the surface.

There will still be the recreational league format that the CYFL has used as well as a travel team option, just as the Titans have done for so long.

“Everything is not in detail yet, but we plan on continuing the rec league and offering traveling also. We’re hoping to have one or two travel teams per age group – first and second graders, third and fourth graders, and fifth and sixth graders – and having the opportunity to be a part of a conference team and travel. We are still going to do the rec league too,” explained Forquer. “The biggest thing is nothing is going to be different with that. The kids will be treated the same. Same scheme, same play calling, same amount of coaching. Every kid is going to be given the same opportunity no matter what they choose.”

The biggest difference – other than them all being underneath a unified umbrella – will be the implementation of the high school playbook, offensive and defensive schemes and philosophies – or variations of them – being passed down to the youth levels to ensure all players are on the same page as they enter middle school and high school football down the road.

“Mark, Bradshaw and I are going to implement a Peewee, Junior League and Senior League playbook and what we’d like to see at those levels. That’s still in the works. Nothing is set in stone. But the basics are there. Obviously, the coaches will still be able to do whatever they want to do, but we want the basic schemes and terminology to be implemented within the youth league, said Forquer. “In the past, we’ve had it where kids get to junior high and they’re starting over. We want it to be when they’re hitting junior high, they know the playbook and everything that’s going on.”

The excitement for the unification of the two youth football teams is palpable and the vision is strong, said Raetz and Forquer.

“I’m excited about it. I really think it’s something that’s necessary given the teams and the programs that we have to see in the sectional. I think we have to make sure we do a really good job of developing our players and building a team-first, unified mentality from the time that they’re starting football until the time they’re finishing high school,” said Raetz. “Our community in Brazil is our strongest asset. We have a community that comes together and supports our athletic programs, supports our schools, supports our kids. It doesn’t play to our benefit if we’re divided and not working together. So, the more we can unify our community and our football programs, I think the better the benefit it will be for Northview football in the long run.

“Everybody’s very excited about this. The governing board is excited. The CYFL and Titans are excited. The one thing that I want to emphasize is that we are now a ‘we.’ We are no longer the Titans and the Clay County Youth League,” said Forquer. “I have to give a lot of credit to Don Sims, who I’ve worked with a lot the past couple of months and has brought in a lot of good ideas, and Chad Jordan, who has been there for 20 years and has a lot of knowledge. We want to show it’s a unified front.”

More announcements are forthcoming after the league’s first meeting of the year takes place in a couple of weeks. Applications will be opened up for the rest of the board – Peewee commissioner, Junior League commissioner, Senior League commissioner, Head of Coaches Development, Head of Grounds, Head of Concessions, Head of Equipment and Head of Marketing – as well as positions for head coaches and assistant coaches.