Nine teams will compete in the Pop Warner Super Bowl and National Cheer & Dance Championships, to be held Dec. 3 through 9 at Disney's Wide World of Sports Complex in Lake Buena Vista, Fla.

The teams will vie for national honors in football, cheering and dance. To earn the right to travel to the national championships, the teams had to win regional victories.

The football national championships involve 64 teams from across the country competing in four classifications for age and weight, generally 8 to 14 years old.

Two football teams are going to the big show:

* The Capital City Youth Sports Association, an all-volunteer football program that practices at the Millbrook Exchange Park, is sending its Junior Pee Wee Division II Steelers team of 8 to 10 year-old players, hoping for a third championship.

* The Wake Forest Titans will play in the Pee Wee Division II for kids 9 to 11 years old.

Andy Garrity, coach of the Wake Forest Titans, took his junior pee wee team to a national championship last year. Many of the players moved up and are hoping for a repeat performance.

Garrity is delighted.

"At the beginning of this year, I was optimistic, but I never thought we'd get this far," he said.

In the cheer and dance championships, more than 300 squads will compete in four age/eight categories, generally ages 8 to 14. Among them will be six local cheerleading teams:

* The Capital City Steelers will field two teams, one in the junior pee wees and the other in the junior midgets.

* The Wake Forest Titans will compete in the junior midget division.

* The Wilders Grove Wolfpack will send two teams, one in the pee wee division and one in the midgets.

* The North Raleigh Bulldogs will vie for national cheering honors in the junior pee wee division.

Finally, in the dance competition, the Wilders Grove Wolfpack will compete in the junior midget division.

"We're overwhelmed with joy," said Sandra Foil, mother of Lauren Foil, a pee wee cheerleader from the Wilders Grove Wolfpack. "They've worked so hard."

To follow the action, visit www.popwarner.com