Tracy’s youth football teams are ready for another season, with some players in workouts for the past week and others who took to the practice field for the first time Monday.

The Tracy Cougars, Raiders and Buccaneers all have successes from last year to build upon.

The Buccaneers bring a junior varsity squad whose players have won the National Youth Football League state championship two years in a row as a Rookie team.

“Since they were 6 years old, they’ve been to the Super Bowl five times and won it four times,” Tracy Buccaneers president Bruce Russell said. “That group of kids … that age group seems to have a lot of talent.”

The change for the Buccs this year will be the league the teams play in. Russell said the team left the dwindling National Youth Football League to join the Trans Valley Youth Football League this year.

“We’re going to be playing those good football towns like Ripon and Escalon. We’ll get some good competition for sure.”

The Buccs begin their season Aug. 22 on the road against the Mariposa Bears and play their first home game at West High against the Salida Steelers.

John Harvey, president of the Tracy Cougars, said that last year, when the club’s novice team won the Delta Youth Football League championships, was the best yet for the club. The varsity and junior varsity teams also went to playoffs, and the JV team won its conference championship.

“This year, we’re looking to repeat with our novice team,” Harvey said. “Our JV team, we’re hoping they can get some revenge and win a Super Bowl, and the varsity we’re hoping they can move on past the first round of playoffs.”

The Cougars go on the road to Elk Grove for their first game Aug. 29 and will have their first home game Sept. 5 at West High against the East Stockton Yellowjackets.

The Tracy Raiders sent their junior varsity and novice teams to playoffs last year.

Novice Raiders coach Gabe McCarty said he has 20 of those players returning to the novice team, 20 more who have moved up from junior novice, and another 20 who are new to the team.

All 60 will compete to see who makes the final roster. McCarty said coaches look at objective standards like speed and strength, and also see which players respond to coaching.

“This group, they’re all fighting for their positions. I don’t think we have a single slouch on the whole team,” he said. “We’re trying to see how the pieces are fitting together. At this point, we have divided the kids by potential position.”

Varsity coach Vada Franklin said he has a different group on his team this year, save for a couple returning players, and hopes to do better in the Delta Youth Football League.

“We have coachable kids, which makes it even better,” he said. “They want to learn, and they’re grasping everything we’re throwing at them.”

He added that it’s hard to tell from one year to the next how the varsity squad will do. He has 30 players now and expects to add a few more by the time the first games begin, but he doesn’t expect to have a full roster.

“Varsity, it’s always a turnover. It’s rare that I get more than two or three kids back,” he said. “As far as experience, we’re young.”

The Raiders’ season begins Aug. 30 at Tracy High against the Stockton Trojans.