By TOMMY REZAC
St. Joseph Post
A minor league football team in St. Joseph is set to open its seventh season of competition this weekend.
The St. Joseph Swarm will take on the First City Cavalry from Leavenworth, Kansas this Saturday at 3 p.m. at Central High School's Noyes Field. Admission is $10 for adults and $5 for kids ages 6-12.
Jaime Saucedo is the head coach of the Swarm. He and his wife, Jessica, run the organization. He says the purpose of the Swarm is largely player development.
"It's more of a club football team that we're trying to develop into a professional minor league in the next few years," Saucedo told St. Joseph Post. "It's kind of leveled like minor league baseball. There's 3A, 2A, 1A. We're in a 3A league. It's kind of like college football. There's national rankings and those sort of things."
The Swarm played and practiced in Chillicothe for their first five years and made the move to St. Joseph last season. The Swarm compete in the Heartland Football Association, which features teams from Minnesota, Nebraska, Iowa, Illinois and Missouri.
The Swarm does a lot of volunteer work in St. Joseph as well, helping the St. Joseph YMCA, the Noyes Home for Children and they helped run the annual Turkey Trot 5K run.
The Swarm started practicing in St. Joseph last season. However, the Swarm didn't have a home field, and they played 15 games on the road.
This year, the Swarm will play nine total regular season games - six of those in St. Joseph. Saucedo says the St. Joseph School District is loaning them both Central's Noyes Field and Benton's Sparks Field for the home games.
"They've been very accommodating in helping us out with anything we need and with communication," Saucedo said of the District . "It's been really good so far."
The Swarm had a successful 10-5 season in 2022, winning a Midwest Regional Football League title and qualifying for the Heartland Football Association Playoffs.
Considered to be a club team that develops players ages 18 and up, the Swarm began recruiting St. Joseph area players to its team last year.
Saucedo says being in St. Joseph has improved the team's overall talent level.
The Swarm currently has 31 players listed on its online roster - many of them from the local area.
"We struggled when in Chillicothe," Saucedo said. "We were like a 1A school in a 6A league. Immediately upon moving to St. Joseph, with the talent around here, 10 wins last season, a lower league championship and making the playoffs in the big leagues."
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