> ## Content Index > Fetch the complete content index at: https://www.smdp.com/llms.txt > Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further. # 19 Remembering the little Vikings - URL: https://www.smdp.com/19-remembering-the-little-vikings/ - Published: 2007-09-08T15:00:00.000Z - Updated: 2026-10-25T00:57:18.000Z - Author: Melody Hanatani - Tags: Sports, Santa Monica, #archive-import They might be pint-sized football players, but they have the competitive spirit of Brian Urlacher and Hines Ward combined. The Santa Monica Vikings — a youth sports organization comprised of five football teams ranging in age from 7 to 14 years old — will kick off its 2007 season today at the Santa Monica High School field, hosting conference rival the Montebello XTreme. “We have a lot of returners,” said Jake Ford, the coach of the Vikings’ Midget squad. “The outlook this year is we’re a playoff team.” The 150-member Santa Monica Vikings organization is one of 22 youth football leagues in the Pacific Coast Conference, including such foes as Buena Park, Lakewood, El Segundo and Palos Verdes. The Vikings are scheduled to play eight games this season, culminating the 2007 campaign with a showdown against divisional rival Culver City before heading into the playoffs. Following a 2006 season in which the Vikings were ranked sixth in winning percentage with playoff losses for two of the squads — the Mitey Mite and the Jr. Pee Wees — falling short of the ever-so elusive title, the boys are ready to come out strong. “We have a good couple of kids, veterans coming back and a lot of our new kids are fast and good tacklers,” said 11-year-old Jordan Detamore, the quarterback for the Pee Wee squad. “I think we are going to do really well this year.” For Detamore, a sixth grader at John Adams Middle School, there is no feeling like running out on the field with more than 200 fans cheering him on. “You’re just focused on football,” he said. “You can’t wait for it to finally start.” The Santa Monica Vikings and the Pacific Coast Conference were once part of the national Pop Warner youth football league until a divorce between the organizations about five years ago. The conference then joined American Youth Football, breaking off into its own organization last year, said Hank Lopez-Ona, the athletic director for the Vikings. With youth football players from the Westside, the Santa Monica Vikings was founded in 1996, producing stars such as current Samohi starting quarterback Ryan Katz, who is expected to head to Oregon State University next year. The kids are introduced into the system at about 7 years of age, starting their football careers with the Mitey Mites and gradually working their way through the league as they get older to Jr. Pee Wee, Jr. Midget, and Pee Wee before concluding their stay on the Midget squad. The youngest of the crop usually have no problem grasping the fundamentals of football, said Rick Regalado, the coach of the Mite Mites. It’s a matter of drilling the same routine in their heads, running the same plays over and over again, he said. More than half of the students that finish with the Santa Monica Vikings go onto play high school ball, Lopez-Ona estimated. Pee Wee Coach Michael Erlich paid a visit to the Santa Monica High School freshman football practice a few weeks ago, counting 16 kids on the field who once played on his squad. 7A3,“Ryan Katz who is a stud is a Division one prospect who came through this program as well and was coached by Regalado,” Erlich said. The coaches all seem optimistic about the year to come, though each see a different set of challenges. Allan Hanckel, the coach of the Jr. Pee Wee, will oversee a team with only 19 players, meaning that several kids will play both offense and defense. “The outlook is going to be dependent on how well we do with the very small squad,” Hanckel said. “We don’t have a lot of kids, but we have a lot of good kids.” The Jr. Midget squad on the other hand has 35 players total, at least 17 of whom are returning players. “Everybody is ready,” said Coach Tim Hayes. “These kids are stoked.” The Pacific Coast Conference requires every single team member be involved with at least six plays, prompting coaches to get creative. Erlich said he tries to fulfill the minimum requirement by the end of the first half so that in the second half, he can have the strongest 11 players on the field. The Vikings program has been credited with steering the youth football players in the right direction, keeping them off the streets and instead focused on the game. In the four years that Ryan Sedighan has played for the Vikings, his older sister Leila, who has been president of the organization for two years, has seen quite a difference in her younger brother, not only progression as an athlete, but as a young man. The program has not only boosted his self-confidence, but his focus on academics, the elder Sedighan said of the 11-year-old football player. “It’s not all about winning or what star athlete you are,” she said. “It’s being part of a team.” > “It’s not all about winning or what star athlete you are,” > “It’s being part of a team.” — she said The game kicks off at 9 a.m. at Santa Monica High School. The Midget squad will have a bye week. Jump hedline: Forecast for Vikings’ season looking good. Suggested pullquote: “I think we are going to do really well this year.” *Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on September 8, 2007.* [Read the original PDF.](https://s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/smdp%5Fbackissues/090807.pdf?ref=smdp.com)