Junior Golden Eagles flap wings

Practices have started in earnest for the Del Oro Jr. Golden Eagle football and cheer teams as over 250 area youth gridders are currently being sent through the paces by their coaches in anticipation of the upcoming season.The Jr. Golden Eagles, who play in the Sierra Valley Conference of the Sierra Youth Football League, will play a nine-game regular season that opens Aug. 29 when the Black and Gold host Granite Bay. But first things first.This Saturday night at the Blue Goose in Loomis, the youth football organization will be hosting its annual Saloon Night that will feature barbecue, desserts, raffle prizes and dancing. Tickets are $30 at the door.The fundraiser begins at 6 p.m. and runs to 10 p.m.Regional Title RunLakeside Little League, which is based in Granite Bay but whose boundaries includes the east side of I-80 in the Loomis area, made a bit of history last week when the league's 11-12 major division all-star squad captured the Northern California Divisional Tournament and earned a berth in the Western Regional Tournament, which begins Friday in San Bernardino.Since 1957, when Little League Baseball was incorporated in Northern California, only two leagues from the Sacramento region have sent squads to the Western Regionals more than once.Sacramento's Airport Little League did it in 1966, when it also qualified for the World Series, and again in 1999. Lakeside, which also competed in the Regional in 2003, has also done it twice.Other "north" leagues to qualify to the Western Regional level over the years include Town & Country (Sacramento), 1958; Auburn (which went on to the LL World Series), 1959; Oak Ridge (Sacramento), 1963; Westside (Chico), 1964; Red Bluff (which went on to win the LL World Series), 1974; Sutter Buttes (Yuba City), 1981; Land Park Pacific (Sacramento), 1983; and Roseville West, 1994. Loomis schools form own leaguePlans are still in the works but Loomis-area elementary and middle schools will break off from the Sierra Foothill League to form their own athletics league, which includes boys and girls basketball, volleyball, softball and track and field.Citing a need to reduce travel costs to help with state and district budget woes, H.C. Powers principal Glenn Lockwood said the new league will consist of Loomis, Ophir, H.C. Powers, Penryn, Placer and Franklin. Lockwood was unsure if Newcastle would be a part of the new circuit that could be known as the LBEC or the Loomis Basin Elementary Conference.