Rams-Rebels merger would create more competitive team
For many years, the township of Old Bridge has had three teams representing it in the Central Jersey Pop Warner League.

Many times I have said that a united Old Bridge team would make this town much more competitive in Pop Warner play. All that is needed is for the Rams and Rebels to just combine their forces. I purposely left out the third team in the mix because of this team's geographic location. The Raritan Bay Cougars draw from an entirely different section of Old Bridge and are located miles from the other two teams in question. It would not make sense for a Cougar parent to drive more than 20 minutes one way just to get his/her child to a Rams or Rebels football field. On the other hand, the Rams and Rebels field locations are less than a mile way from each other, and both teams have always drawn from the same general area.

The simple fact is that if the Rams and the Rebels were to combine their assets, there would surely be a much more competitive team after such a merger. For example, the Rams have a clubhouse and many assets that the Rebels do not have. The Rebels on the other hand have had better player numbers and bring to the table many years of experience that would make for a successful merger.

The point is that a combined team under a unified name such as the Old Bridge Junior Knights would be very beneficial to both teams. Doing this would also make it more possible for a feeder program to be initiated with our high school football program. This would help our high school team (the Knights) become more competitive in an ever-changing and extremely tough Central Jersey Group 4 division.

As a former coach on this level, I can say that we used such a feeder program successfully and drew from our local Pop Warner program. This, I believe, was a major contributing factor as to why we were so competitive year after year. This team even ran the same offensive and defensive schemes (plays and formations), which made the transition much easier for the youngsters to compete on the high school level.

So how do we get there? Well the answer is quite simple: merge the two teams and just let the youngsters play. Remember, PopWarner was created solely for the children and not for adults.

Let's not make petty differences push a worthwhile program away. Central Jersey Pop Warner officials have every right to enforce this decision, and it makes perfect sense. If I am not mistaken, they have also allowed an equal amount of representation from both Rams and Rebels members on the new board that would be created for this merger.

All that will occur from future litigation is that both teams will simply not play this year. In the end, the players alone will suffer and the town of Old Bridge will get more negative press due to this effort.

The Rams have already agreed to such a merger. Rebels, please do the right thing and merge with them. Do this not for yourselves but for your sons and your daughters. In the end, they just want to play, and to them, it really doesn't matter what banner they are competing under.

I will tell you that with many more players and possibly an A and B Junior Knights squad on every level, the children will have many more wins, and that, I think we all agree, would be a good thing for the program.

Pete Trabucco

Old Bridge