It has been a banner year for the Cochrane Lions Atoms football team and head coach Scott Mamchur is proud of their accomplishments.

The roster of about 45 players, ages 7 to 10, went undefeated in all nine of their games in Calgary and Area Atom Football League that has 14 teams. It's the entry league for minor football and while scores aren't officially kept, the team outplayed all comers, including the Cowboys, who are traditionally the top team.

"We were easily the best team in the league," says Mamchur. "We had a great team of players and coaches and we've never been so dominant. By the end of the year, we beat the Cowboys which is traditionally the toughest team."

"We played all the top tier teams this year and we beat them all."

If any league could define the popularity of the sport, this is it. The team quickly maxed out its roster and had to cut off registration, since they had already declared they would field one team.

Even with these high numbers, all players were given equal opportunity on game day to develop their skills.

"We played everybody equally. We had a big rotation but I would say 99 per cent of the kids played as much as anyone."

A large role of atoms is developing skills and helping them find the position where they could excel. They held a combine at the beginning of the season to identify the best positions, then focused on nurturing the skills of their players.

"It was a culture of working very hard as a team and learning how we can accomplish more as a team than as individuals."

The team practiced three times weekly at the beginning then changed it to two practices, one game when the season rolled out in mid-August.

A feather in the team's cap is the halftime game they earned the right to play at McMahon Stadium during the Calgary Stampeders-Montreal Alouettes game on Sept. 29.

Through the Timbit Minor Ticket Challenge, they sold 300 tickets and raised $3,000 for the team to earn the right to take to the field. The Bulldogs team usually sells the most, but the Lions pushed them back to second.

It continues to look promising for next season that starts with spring training. They had a large number of 9-year-old players who will be returning.

"They'll be back next year; it will be a very good program."