Another youth football season is underway in Excelsior Springs.

This past weekend, two Excelsior Springs Football Association (ESFA) teams opened their respective campaigns. The third-grade team fell to Richmond 21-0 in Richmond. The sixth-graders fought their way to a 7-6 victory over Holden, also in Richmond.

The third-grade Tigers couldn’t score, despite putting together multiple big plays on offense. Coach Chris Lingle said he was proud of the way his team played.

“We had a lot of good things from our little Tigers, both on offense and defense, but we still have a lot of things to work on to get better,” he said.

In the sixth-grade game, Holden returned the opening kickoff back for a touchdown but failed to convert on the extra-point try. The Tigers answered in the second quarter with a 6-yard TD run by DeAndre McIntosh, who took a toss around the corner and dove into the end zone. Maddox Mawby pushed in the extra point, which also proved to be the game-winning score.

“The defense was g…