Sports

Four local eighth-graders playing in national all-star football game

Four local eighth-graders will participate in the All-United States Bowl Games Saturday in San Antonio.

They are Mason Alley and Ryland Geldermann of Kopachuck Middle School, and Hutton Leverett and Johan Gerl of St. Charles Borromeo Catholic School.

Organizers call the event the top youth all-star football games in the nation. Under-12 and U-13 teams will each play two games. All four boys will participate in the U-13 games. Gerl was assigned to the East team because of COVID-related roster juggling. The other three will play for the West.

Alley, the son of Sonja Alley of Gig Harbor, will man the defensive line. Geldermann, the son of Jason and Carly Geldermann of Fox Island, will play at running back and linebacker. Leverett, the son of Vic and Steph Leverett of Gig Harbor, will take snaps at quarterback. Gerl, the son of Dan and Agape Gerl of Gig Harbor, will be at linebacker.

Alley has played for the Gig Harbor Tides since he was in the third grade through the Peninsula Youth Football league and credits longtime Tides coach Brad Harris with helping to develop his skills.

Geldermann, Leverett and Gerl have played for Jason Geldermann since fourth grade through the Bellarmine Lions youth football club. All four also played under Geldermann at Puget Sound Football Academy in Gig Harbor. They participated in the game last year and performed so well that they received automatic invitations to return. Geldermann and Gerl have also been chosen to play in the Dream All-American Bowl at AT&T Stadium in Dallas in April.

Players are nominated by trusted scouts, coaches or parents, then vetted using submitted film by a selection board.

Players and their families receive tickets to attend the All-American Bowl, a national all-star game for high school players, at noon in the Alamodome.

The U-13 games, at 8:30 p.m. Saturday and 2 p.m. Sunday, will be livestreamed for free by Texas Sports Production.

Jason and Carly Geldermann started the Puget Sound Football Academy because there weren’t many sports going on during the beginning of COVID and they wanted a way for kids to get out and learn how to play football in a safe way, she said. Now they run it as an off-season training program. They practice at parks throughout Gig Harbor.

Mason Alley Photo courtesy of Sonja Alley

Ryland Geldermann

Hutton Leverett

Johan Gerl