When the football season began, Jason Dyer wanted his players have a good experience playing the sport.

It’s safe to say that the Bedford Jr. Bulldogs Jr. Pee Wee Silver football team is having the experience of a lifetime.

On Nov. 23, the Jr. Bulldogs defeated West Haven, Conn., 12-0 to win the Pop Warner New England Regional Championship and earn a spot in the 56th Pop Warner Super Bowl, which began Saturday at Disney’s Wide World of Sports in Orlando, Fla.

Needing to win two games to play for the JPW national title on Dec. 8, the Jr. Bulldogs suffered a tough defeat in Saturday’s quarterfinal round – falling 38-6 to the Michigan City Wolves of Indiana. With one game to play in Orlando – Tuesday (8:30 a.m.) in the consolation round against the Stanley Blue Devils of North Carolina – the Jr. Bulldogs are still enjoying a trip Dyer, the team’s head coach, never expected coming into the season.

“We started just trying to give the kids a good experience and teach them the sport,” said Dyer before the team’s departure. “We figured our job as youth coaches was teaching fundamentals and expose them to what (Bedford High School coach) Kurt Hines does at the high school.”

Going into the year, Dyer knew his team – which consists of 21 players ranging from 9 to 11 years old – had a chance to be good. When Bedford took on two undefeated teams – the Merrimack Cardinals and Amherst Patriots – in close games during the regular season, the coaches thought one of those three teams would be state champions.

“We played Amherst in the (state) final and beat them,” Dyer said. “So we’re New Hampshire champs, and that’s a great year. Suddenly, we’ve got another game and let’s see what we can do. It went to whole new level.”

As the competition got better, so did Bedford’s defense. The Jr. Bulldogs played well on that side of the ball all season, but in the regional playoffs, Bedford’s defense didn’t allow a point. In fact, the only points Bedford allowed came on a safety the team took intentionally in a 13-2 win over Old Rochester, R.I., in the quarterfinals.

“This group now understands how to be a good defense that goes to the ball and gang tackles and makes defense fun,” Dyer said. “We don’t dominate games with offense. The ability to keep people out of the end zone in tight games is what has us moving on.”

After last Friday’s win in the regional championship game, the Jr. Bulldogs spent the rest of the day enjoying the victory. But over the weekend, the team got on the road to start fundraising for the trip to Florida.

“They were going crazy (Friday),” Dyer said. “There were happy tears. People can’t stop talking about it and smiling.”

Dyer estimates that the Jr. Bulldogs raised close to $1,800 over the weekend from canning, and have received more donations from companies in Bedford and beyond, including Comcast and the New England Patriots. The program has also started an online fundraiser, which can be found at www.gofundme.com/1jahbg.

“It’s amazing,” Dyer said of the support. “I don’t know if we’ll get enough to cover everybody, but people have done so much for us so far.”