He never played football. He never coached the sport until last year.

Now Todd Simko has his team in the Super Bowl — the United Youth Football League's age 9-10 Super Bowl, that is.

Butler's junior varsity Gold team (9-1) will play for the league championship at 4:30 p.m. Sunday at Seneca Valley's NexTier Stadium.

“I coach three teams in youth basketball, but never football,” Simko said. “Lance Rihn was head coach of the JV team last year and asked me to come on board as offensive coordinator.

“I may not know a lot about the X's and O's, but I'm pretty good with the Billy's and Joe's.”

That team wound up reaching the Super Bowl last year, losing to Mars. When Rihn bumped up to the varsity level in the Butler Area Midget Football League program, Simko took over as head coach this season.

Buler Gold has 28 players on its roster, but returned only two starters — running back-cornerback Deacon Simko and running back-linebacker Colte Fischer. Both are among the team's five captains and have scored approximately 15 touchdowns each this year.

But this is far from a two-person team.

- The Gold have had 16 different kids score touchdowns this year. Ten had never scored a TD in organized football before this season.

- Quarterback-safety Nicco Baggetta, center-defensive lineman Jordan Vicari and wide receiver-outside linebacker Avery Rudolph are the other captains.

- The Gold have scored 293 points and allowed only 24.

- The coaches watch eight to 10 hours of film each week on the Gold's opponents.

“Everybody is all in and that's what it takes to succeed at this these days,” defensive coordinator Shane Burchett said. “That includes the parents. Some of them have volunteered to shoot video of future opponents for us.

“The school gets decorated for the kids. Everybody's really gotten into this.”

The quarterback's older brother, Anthony Baggetta, has Down's Syndrome and autism. He is non-verbal, but has been accepted as a special coach on the team.

“The kids love him. We told them to respect him as a coach. He's a part of our family,” Simko said.

Katina Baggetta, Anthony's mother, said her son's experience with the team “has been great for his social skills.

“They let him kick the ball when they do onsides kicks in practice and he gets a big kick out of that,” she said.

Anthony is at every one of the Gold's practices and games.

“When I tell him to get ready, it's game day, he smiles and starts saying 'go, go, go go ...!' That's all he says,” his mother said.

Simko wears a Butler Gold t-shirt at practice — given to him by parents of players — with his 5 Fs on the back: Fun, Fast, Focused, Fysical ... and Family.

“We make sure the kids have fun,” Simko said. “We always play music at practice. We have dance offs at practice, a (wooden) sledgehammer that we hit the other team's helmet with, even a 'Shane Chain'.”

The Shane Chain, named after Burchett, is presented to the standout Butler Gold defensive player of the game.

“The sledgehammer is a prop and we choose kids to swing it,” Burchett said. “I stole the idea of the Chain from Miami (Fla.) University football. We turned it into a defensive award. The kids take a lot of pride in it.”

They take a lot of pride in their team as well.

“I tell them I'm not here to win football games. I'm here to make these kids better young men.” Simko said. “We're a family. I have six kids of my own. These kids are my football family. Some of them come from broken homes, tough financial situations. Through donations, we pay for them, get them football spikes to wear in games.

“One of the kids was struggling in school. I talked to his principal to work out a program for him. I care about these kids. I've had them over my house to watch film, for picnics. They know they're accountable for what they do on and off the field because they're representing this family.”

Using numerous formations, Simko said the team has more than 100 plays it can run.

Butler High School coach Eric Christy has come to the team's games. He and the varsity coaches invited the BAMFL coaches to a coaching camp at Baldwin-Wallace College over the summer.

“These kids started practice July 23 and we're still going,” Simko said. “It's been a long season, but it's been a blast.

“We tell the kids, why dream with your eyes closed when you can dream with your eyes open? Enjoy this journey you're on.”

BUTLER GOLD

Team Roster

Colte Fischer, Nicco Baggetta, Toby Shay, Isaac Patton, Jordan Vicari, Ravonne Coleman, Deacon Simko, Carter Heist, Zackery Zeigler, Xavier Lowry, Trevor Geibel, Xavier Rice, Charlie Rodgers, Mason Bundy, Ty Deless, Cooper Geagan, Eli Baker, Aidan Kelly, Noah Lucarelli, Logan Podobensky, Alex Brown, Isaac Rodgers, John Adams, Mason Zurzulo, Avery Rudolph, Mark Walter, Shane McKnight, Christian Hageter

Coaches

Todd Simko, Shane Burchett, Mark Pino, Dave Patton, Chris Vicari