Courtesy photo

Chaparral High School grad Jovan Mingo carries the ball during a recent Vegas Kings’ game.

By Jared Harmon (contact)

Thu, Oct 16, 2008 (2 a.m.)

Courtesy photo

Members of the Las Vegas Kings of the Labelle Community Football League visit with fans at Nellis Air Force Air Force base. The players are from left to right, Byron Wilson, John Travis, Richard Mapp, Prentice Caesar, Johnny Young, Moarco Manzy and Scott Piper.

The Vegas Kings of the Labelle Community Football League just finished their inaugural season by narrowly missing the playoffs after closing with a five-game winning streak.

Kings player and co-owner Richard Mapp, a Chaparral graduate and former receiver for UNLV, said he and co-owner Prentice Caesar founded the team with hopes of giving locals one last chance to play professionally.

"The Labelle league is the top minor league football organization on the West coast," Mapp said. "They have some very good teams and they have a history of helping players get recognized and move to the next level — whether that's the Canadian Football League, arena football or even the NFL. They were exactly what we were looking for."

Mapp and Caesar assembled a team of recent high school standouts, former college players and few former pros for the Kings' first season. After a rocky 0-5 start, the Kings rallied and moved back to .500 with five straight wins.

"It's hard to say we're happy with losing five games, but we finished real strong and that gives us a lot of hope for next year," Mapp said. "We took our bumps and bruises and our trials and tribulations. We went through the growing pains and we showed a lot of character."

One of the Kings' top players, Javon Mingo, who like Mapp is a Chaparral graduate, said the Kings made big strides and showed major promise for next year.

"Other teams need to watch out for us," Mingo said. "We really started clicking at the end of the year and things started gelling for us. We came together as a team. We had a lot of guys who had never played together before so we just had to get going. Now we know where we stand."

Mingo is one of several Kings who are expecting to be invited to participate in the Labelle league's All-Star game this winter. Mingo led the league in return yards with 1,015 yards between 18 kickoff returns and 16 punt returns. He also returned one of each for a touchdown.

Mapp led the team with 716 receiving yards and five touchdowns while Las Vegas High graduate Brandon Lomax picked up 643 rushing yards and five touchdowns. Defensively, Anthony Daforno, also from Chaparral, collected 51 tackles and 9.5 sacks.

"There are a lot of teams out there for people who want to keep playing just because they love the game, but we're more oriented for players who want to keep developing and make it to the next level," Daforno said. "We have some real skilled athletes and we definitely got some looks this year."

The Kings are taking a break until tryouts in March. In the meantime, Mapp hopes to establish a connection to the community through charity work and community service.

This winter, through a partnership with Caring for Kids, the Kings will be packing and delivering lunches to homeless children. Mapp said he and Caesar have been in contact with a number of charity groups about volunteering.

"We want to show the community we're not just about football," Daforno said. "We're about the community. We want to give back to the community that we're asking to come and support us."

Jared Harmon can be reached at 990-8922 or jared.harmon@hbcpub.com.