Steelers Crush Waterbury, Bloomfield In Early Contests 

by Lisa Reisman

Wide receivers Noah Concepcion (#5) and Jordan Myers (#21) on kickoff to open 2026 season at Winslow Field last Saturday. Credit: Lisa Reisman photo.

In the middle of the third quarter at the season opener between the 13U New Haven Steelers and the Waterbury Patriots, defensive coach Nate Morrison-Fuller wrapped his arm around wide receiver Christopher Wiley, speaking forcefully in his ear. 

By then, the Steelers were up 47-0, with its smothering defense leaving the Patriots with negative yardage, an effort that drew cheers from the roughly 200 fans at West Rock’s Winslow Field on a sun-drenched early-September Saturday afternoon.

Wiley is among the 26 members of the 13U, or 13 years old and under, New Haven Steelers of the Pop Warner Youth Football League, one of multiple football teams across age-based divisions. Last season, the team dominated the New England region, reaching nationals but falling short in the first round. 

This year, the goal is simple: national championship or bust. 

Team mom Shatea Threadgill ensuring players stay hydrated after another score in the second quarter.

Through the initial two games, so far so good. Before prevailing at Bloomfield 40-0 on Saturday night, the Garrett Barros-coached team showed no mercy in its home opener, with an initial kickoff featuring a Waterbury fumble that was returned for a touchdown. An interception on a third-and-23 followed, forecasting the 53-0 final score. 

“The more aggressive we are, the more they’re gonna fold,” defensive coach Cameron Davis Sr. called out from the sideline, as Kaden Wells took down the opposing quarterback for a sack. “Keep communicating,” team mom Delores Roberts shouted. There was another Waterbury fumble on a kickoff, with Jay Threadgill running the ball into the end zone. The loudspeakers blared “Hail to the Victors.” The referees looked gassed.

Safety and wide receiver Trevor Gray learning on head coach Garrett Barros after another stop.

Call it a blowout; a cakewalk; a “backyard game of catch,” as someone in the crowd commented, after quarterback William “E.J.” McClary lofted another touchdown pass to David Gaskins in the second quarter.  Whatever it was, here were the precise conditions for the losing team to lash out with, as Morrison-Fuller later put it, “cheap shots, trash talk, not exactly football plays.”  

Defensive coach Nate Morrison-Fuller engaged in low lunge yoga pose at recent practice at Bowen Field.

A former basketball standout at Career High School and Pop Warner football alum, Morrison-Fuller, 26, has been coaching for six years, and not just football. When the football season’s over, he returns to his alma mater, coaching Career’s basketball team.

“I love coaching, love the development part, making the kids into better players, that’s what I love the most,” he said later. “Growing up in this neighborhood, I know how it is, so just being a big brother to the kids, them seeing me in the community, knowing who I am, knowing I’m there for them, that’s what I try to do.”  

To hear Morrison-Fuller tell it, what prompted his animated discussion with Wiley — it followed a penalty flag against the Steelers for unsportsmanlike conduct — was less the 15 yards that the penalty cost the team than that Wiley let himself get provoked. It was the kind of unforced error that the team has to clean up early in the season to pave the way to the ultimate goal. 

“I told him to keep his head in the game,” he said, once Wiley rejoined the offense on the field. “That team is trying to get him out of his zone, and it’s up to him to rise above.” 

Standing nearby, defensive coordinator Martin Colon was nodding. “This is gonna happen all season,” he said, as safety Trevor Gray, among the standout performers, swooped in for another stop. 

Safety and wide receiver Trevor Gray during recent practice at Bowen Field.

“Never nervous, always ready,” the soft-spoken Gray, an eighth grader at Beecher School, said after the game. Originally from Bridgeport, he joined the 13U Steelers this year. He’s taken to playing safety, which acts as the last line of defense against long runs and deep passes because, he said, “I can see the whole field.”He’s also enjoying his new team.“We have our fun, and then we work hard,” he said. “The coaches are making us better.”

By then, the players were removing their shoulder pads and lifting off their helmets. Team moms Roberts and Shatea Threadgill were handing out bottles of water and Gatorade from a cooler. “Hydrate, hydrate,” they told the kids. On the opposite sideline, the Waterbury Patriots trudged off the field. 

“Eyes on the prize,” defensive coordinator Colon said as he and his son Brodie, a defensive lineman,headed toward the parking lot. “Eyes on the prize.”