Northwest Philly football team returns to Florida for Pop Warner Super Bowl tourney

A Northwest Philadelphia football team is heading to Florida this weekend for the Pop Warner Super Bowl tournament.

Starting Sunday, the Raiders will try to make history after going undefeated in the regular season and capturing a regional crown.

The rec team’s high school-age squad will first face the Ohio Elite Panthers.

A win the following Wednesday would send the Raiders to the Division 1 Midget championship game, scheduled for Dec. 13 at noon.

Quarterback Naeem Bonner, who transferred from Imhotep Charter to Delaware Valley Charter High this year, said the team is ready to take home the organization’s first-ever Super Bowl title.

“All year, we’ve been criticized that we’re too small. We’re not this. We’re not that, but we’re a small group of confident kids,” said Bonner during a Monday night rally at Lonnie Young Recreation Center in Germantown. “We love each other and we fight for each other.”

Not a cheap trip

On Friday, 25 players and 10 coaches will fly to Disney World in Orlando.

It’s an expensive effort.

“It’s $900 per person to get done there, plus we have to travel and feed them for nine days so it’s kind of hard,” said head coach Aaron Josey.

So far, the team has raised roughly $10,000 through fundraising efforts. It still needs more than $20,000 to cover the trip.

The team’s gofundme.com campaign currently has just over $1,000.

Kickoff on Sunday is at 1 p.m. The game will be televised on ESPN3.