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All League
Nate Ellis, QB (2009-NAFL West 1st)
Alvin Thornton, RB (2008-NAFL All Star; 2009-NAFL
West 1st)
Francis Sesepasara, DE (2008-NAFL West All Star)
Anthony Spain, WR (2008-NAFL West All Star)
Leon Ireland, WR (2009-NAFL West 1st)
Titan Mann, WR (2009-NAFL West 1st)
Garrett Butler, OL (2009-NAFL West 1st)
Ruben Jones, DL (2009-NAFL West 1st)
Daniel Welcome, LB (2009-NAFL West 1st)
Kelly Kline, DB (2008-NAFL West All Star; 2009-NAFL
West 1st)
Taylor Boyd, DB (2009-NAFL West 1st)
Carlos Fonseca, DB (2009-NAFL West 1st)
Keith Fuchs, DB (2009-NAFL West 1st)
Jason McGregor, P (2009-NAFL West 1st)
Jack Cosgrove, WR (2009-NAFL West 2nd)
Chava Haro, OL (2009-NAFL West 2nd)
Gary Colbert, DL (2009-NAFL West 2nd)
Antoine Williams, DL (2009-NAFL West 2nd)
Matt Gaylor, DL (2009-NAFL West 2nd)
Bruce Franklin, DB (2009-NAFL West 2nd)
All America
Ruben Jones, DL (2009-NFE 2nd)
Garrett Butler, OL (2009-NFE Hon Men)
Daniel Welcome, LB (2009-NFE Hon Men)
Rockne Demello had been named most valuable player
in the Oregon Football League while playing in the OFL for 10 seasons,
and saw the rise and fall of the Southern Oregon Heat from an up close
player’s perspective.
So it was with an eye toward the future that Demello and his wife Leona
Westdahl decided early in 2008 to start a local franchise in the North
American Football League, a minor league adult football program in its
ninth season.
“I thought I’d try something new,” says Demello. “My playing career is
numbered so I thought I’d go into ownership.”
Demello says he was searching the Internet when he came across an NAFL
article stating the league was expanding to the West Coast, and it
seemed like a no-brainer to him that Southern Oregon get into the mix.
Thus the Southern Oregon Renegades were born, and were immediately
placed in the Cascade Division of the Northwest Conference.
The Renegades tore through the NAFL Northwest
division in 2008 until losing their final game of the regular season to
state-rival East County on the road. A long trip to Vancouver,
B.C. Canada proved to be too much as the Renegades were cut down in the
playoffs.
In 2009 The 'Gades, once again tore through the
regular season going 10-0 including 6 shut-outs, but came up short in
the finale falling to the Bellingham Bulldogs in the conference
championship.
The 2010 edition struggled to a 5-5 record and was
exited from the playoffs by the Bellingham Bulldogs.
In 2011, the Renegades joined the Pacific Football
League and reloaded the team for a championship run. A stumble out
of the gates against the Vipers cost the team an overtime loss, but
later became the first team to shut down the vaunted Portland Monarchs
potent offense in a 13-10 loss. The Monarchs would be shockingly
ousted from the playoffs by the Buzzards, and after 3 tense quarters of
play, the Renegades #1 defense rose up and sealed the game away with 2
crucial fourth quarter interceptions to catapult Southern Oregon into
the inaugural PFL Championship game. |
