RALEIGH - Brawny men, some topping 300 pounds, will battle today over the pigskin in what has become the big professional football rivalry of the year -- the Indianapolis Colts vs. the New England Patriots.

But most football fans glued to the game tonight missed the big matchups Saturday -- at least in Raleigh. Here, ..

This is Tiny Mite football, the nascent Pop Warner division for tackle football.

The players are ages 5 to 7 at the start of the season. The field is 80 yards. The ball is smaller. There is no official scoring (though everybody knows who won or lost). No need for goal posts.

And there is no shame in kisses from Mom or tears either.

"It's kind of like football before the egos," said Gene Vigue, the gruff but gentle head coach for the Apex Cougars Black.

Since July, about 400 boys across the Triangle have suffered through two-hour practices two or three times a week. The season ended Saturday in North Raleigh at the Tiny Mites Bowl.

It has been two years since Pop Warner started a national tackle football program for children who look like little bobblehead dolls when they put on their helmets, which they often need help getting on and off.

It started in Florida, said Josh Pruce, national director of media relations for Pop Warner Little Scholars, the largest football, cheer and dance organization in the world. And parents across the country began asking for it.

Children this age already could play flag football. But it's good to get them in pads at the age of 5 or 6, Pruce said.

"They're learning how to correctly block, how to correctly tackle," he said. "When they get up to a higher level, they're doing the fundamentals better. And when you're doing the fundamentals better, in football, there's less chance of getting hurt."

Growth

Tiny Mites has grown nationwide from 200 teams in 2005 to 466 teams in 2006.

The Triangle's Pop Warner league, known as the Consolidated Football Federation, has had rapid growth at the Tiny Mite level. It started with eight teams last year and fielded 16 this year. Mike Baldwin, football commissioner, expects even more teams next year.

The region's growth accounts for some of those numbers, he said. So do parents getting used to the notion of children a few years out of diapers getting into football pads.

"You have to get over Mommy being afraid of little Johnny being hit," Baldwin said.

After the first season last year, Baldwin said, parents saw that when Johnny is hit, he just kind of tips over. The players must weigh 35 to 75 pounds at the start of the season and rarely generate enough speed to create a significant impact. No child has been seriously injured playing Tiny Mite, Pruce said.

"Once they find out they're not going to get hurt and they see how much fun the kids are having, a lot of parents are not as anxious," Baldwin said.

So many boys signed up to play in Apex that the nonprofit Apex Sports Authority, which runs youth sports, fielded two Tiny Mite teams this season. The Apex Cougars Black practiced a couple of nights a week at Baucom Elementary School, running conditioning drills at first, which yielded questions about when they would get to play football. Then they donned their 8 pounds of protection, which brought tears and complaints that they were uncomfortable.

Vigue, whose son Zach, 5, is on the team, and his coaching staff of four other dads had few expectations when they started. Vigue has played football all his life and had coached at the high school level. He figured they would just dive up the middle every play, but the boys learned quickly. They completed some passes and learned about a dozen plays.

"With 5-, 6-, 7-year-olds, that's a big accomplishment," said Vigue, whose job lies somewhere between coach and parent. "They far surpassed anything I thought they would be able to do."

Signing up for the sport often was the idea of the players' fathers, though some boys chose it on their own.

"To see my son excel at a sport like this, it's exciting," said Gareth Vaughan, whose son Hunter is 7. "You forget they're 7, and you live vicariously through them."

Pam Kilpatrick, the team mom, which involves a lot of organizing and fundraising, said she was a little nervous about her son Will, 7, being tackled, but not so much anymore. It was her husband's idea.

"I feel like they were prepared as they could be," she said. "Soccer can be dangerous. Any sport can be dangerous."

The players say they are happy to play for simple reasons.

"Because you hit," said Aidan Callahan, 8.

"I like tackling. It's fun," said Dalton Taylor, 7, who says running down opponents is a lot like wrestling with his friends.

"Halftime in the game because we get to eat because my stomach is growling at me to eat," said Zach Vigue.

Saturday's game was a tough one -- a mismatch some grumbled -- between Durham's powerhouse the Scrappin' Eagles and the Cougars, who had a respectable season.

On the bench, the Cougars donned their moms' gloves. The temperature in the high 40s felt like football weather. The hour, 8 a.m., felt more like car pool time.

Parents on the sidelines questioned the referees and encouraged the boys to hit. Logan Wentz, 6, ran over to his mom, Lori, at the end of the game and mumbled, "I love you, mom," for no obvious reason other than just pure feelings.

The Apex crowd came alive when lightning-fast Spencer Stokes, 8, ran halfway down the field to score a touchdown, the only one for the Cougars. Durham ended the game with four.

It didn't matter. They all got the same medal to wear around their necks.

"Did you guys give everything you had?" offensive coach Charlie Mitchell shouted as the Cougars huddled up one more time at the end of the game.

Yes! they screamed.

"Did you have fun?" Mitchell asked.

Yes!

"Then," he said, "you won."

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