April 9, 2019

Riverside Under Armour – Under the Lights: K-2 Division Steelers and Gracie Sevilla – Type 1 Diabetic Football Player

For Immediate Release

On Friday, April 12, 2019, the Riverside Under Armour – Under the Lights K-2 Flag Football Team – the Steelers (3-0), will be playing a double-header against the also undefeated Raiders, then against the 1-2 Rams. The game against the Raiders is a league showcase game  that pits two dynamic offenses and lock down defenses against one another for first place in the league and the inside track to play in the National Championship Game at UCLA in May.

The Riverside Steelers recently beat the Menifee Raiders by a score 20-8 with Riverside Quarterback, Luke Sevilla, recording an epic game with 3 interceptions at Safety; one was a pick 6.

Luke also was 5/6 passing with a touchdown pass and had many long gains at running back.

Guillermo Villarreal, had a strong game on defense with 6 stops.

Last week, the Steelers fell behind two (2) scores against the Riverside Seahawks, until Luke Sevilla, playing running back and safety, accounted for 3 touchdowns to bring the team to an 18-13 victory.

The Steelers team features 5 returning members from last years Championship game squad: Luke Sevilla, Gracie Sevilla, Jayden Sage, Guillermo Villarreal, & Noah Corona.

The Steelers have added 3 dynamic players to their mix this year: Sese Tuolioa, Eden Esau and Zane Sedoris – increasing their speed and skill exponentially.

Sese Tuolioa, is the 6 year-old brother of Lokeni and Leni Tuolioa; starting linebackers for the UCLA Bruins, and Lemusu Toailoa; starting Linebacker for the Sacramento State Hornets.

The UCLA tandem helped out at practice; bringing their friends and teammates, and were on the sidelines helping Head Coach, Tommy Sevilla at the Menifee showcase game.

Unique to the Riverside Under the Lights Flag Football League is Receiver, Running Back and Defensive End, Gracie Sevilla, the only girl in the league, the youngest player in the league (5) and a Type 1 Diabetic, recently diagnosed last year.

Type 1 Diabetes is an incurable auto-immune disease that affects mostly children from 4 years old and rarely strikes adults. Type 1 Diabetes is thought to be triggered by viruses/illnesses common to school aged children (RotoVirus, Foot and Mouth, etc) who have the genetic markers of Type 1 Diabetes, which causes the Pancreas to fight against its own beta cells and shut down partially, then entirely, rendering the Pancreas useless to produce life saving Insulin.

Gracie, literally needs Insulin Shots to stay alive and receives as many as 10 per day.

Gracie, whose blood glucose levels have dipped to deadly levels (32 mg/dl) or has risen to deadly levels (600 + mg/dl), plays with a continuous glucose monitoring device affixed to her thigh that sends a reading to her dad, mom and school teachers & nurses (River Springs Magnolia Center in Riverside) cell phone app, alerting them of both highs and lows.

The device is a Dexcom G6 and her father, Tommy Sevilla, the teams head coach of two years, keeps the receiver in his pocket as he coaches the kids; including Gracie, on the playing field.

Gracie was recently featured in Insulin Nation and on Channel 2 & 9 news – Los Angeles affiliates, regarding her Type 1 Diabetes and athletic prowess; Gracie also excels in Baseball, Soccer and Basketball. She currently stars for the Jurupa Valley Single A – Angels Baseball Team as an infielder and power hitter.

As a soccer player, Gracie was the leading scorer on her Riverside Parks & Recreation team and, as a Basketball Player, she recently made a long shot from the baseline area of the adult basketball court in a Parks & Recreation game at Reid Park.

Gracie Sevilla has a website in development: https://GracieSevilla.com  , which links to her GoFundMe page where she is raising Type 1 Diabetes awareness and also money for a Diabetic Alert Dog.

Grace for the Cure, is the name of the organization founded by Gracie’s dad, to bring awareness to Type 1 Diabetes.

#GracefortheCure

Diabetic Alert Dogs are specially trained dogs that alert the affected person and those around them of impending highs and lows, a full 15 minutes before a CGM like the Dexcom G6 or other man-made technologies, and can even sense and alert from many miles away when they are away from their owners; such as when Gracie is in school.

Friday night double-header will be played at Riverside’s Arlington High School at 6:00 pm (Raiders) and 8:00 pm (Seahawks).

For inquiries, please contact:

Tommy Sevilla (951) 289-1710
Head Coach, Under Armour Steelers

https://sevillalocalmedia.com