PROSPECT — There's a story titled "The Little Engine That Could."

The Prospect Chiefs are the little engine that does.

Despite drawing players from the smallest number of schools and having one of the smallest teams physically in the 14-program ABC Youth Football League, Prospect's senior and junior teams are headed to the league's Super Bowl.

The senior team, which is for players ages 11 and 12, plays Karns City while the 9-and-10 junior team faces Brookville for league titles. Both games will be played Saturday at Punxsutawney.

"Since 1990, these will be the 16th and 17th Super Bowl games our teams have played in," Prospect senior team head coach Chris Saunders said. "We were 0-13 in those games at one point."

The junior team finally broke through and won the league crown in 2007. The senior team won it for the first time last year.

Junior team head coach Mike Adachi is 32-5 since taking the reins in 2006.

"Moraine Elementary is the only grade school we can draw from," Adachi said. "Other programs can draw from a few more.

"We used to be able to pull in Butler kids, but with the formation of the Lil' Tornadoes, we can't do that anymore," he added.

Prospect does have a handful of players from Butler on both of its teams who have been with the program since before the Lil' Tornadoes' arrival.

"These kids are grandfathered in," Adachi said.

There are 18 players on the Prospect senior team, 23 on the junior squad.

The senior team's biggest player, Josh McCloskey, is from Butler.

"His nickname is Tree," Saunders said.

Saunders said the community has been key to the Prospect program's success.

"A lot of families have come through here," he said. "Brothers and cousins. ... Most of our kids can walk to practice. They live a mile or two from here, at the most."

Saunders, assistant coaches Rich Bowser and Pete Fisher, and Prospect Boys and Girls Club president Eric Hilliard all played youth football for Prospect at one point.

"The players respect the coaches, the coaches respect the players," Hilliard said. "There are no egos here. Everyone just wants to play football."

The junior team's nose guard, Austin Smith, is hearing impaired. He leads the squad in sacks.

"He's the best nose guard I've seen in this league," Adachi said. "Our kids are just nasty. They're small, but they love to hit."

Prospect's junior team is unbeaten at 9-0 and has allowed only two touchdowns. The senior team is 8-1 and looks to avenge a 16-8 regular-season loss to Karns City.

The junior team's only pass completion of the season went for a touchdown. The senior team throws the ball 10 times a game.

"We run a prostyle offense the same way, all the way through the program," Saunders said. "The passing aspect matures as the kids get older."

The 14 programs comprising the ABC League are Prospect, Slippery Rock, Grove City, A-C Valley, East Brady, Karns City, Moniteau, Brookville, Brockway, Punxsutawney, Sabula (DuBois), Shannock Valley, Redbank Valley and Union.