Somerset — The Southern Braves won their second consecutive PCYFL Pee Wee Super Bowl by defeating the Pulaski Mustangs 19-7 on Saturday at Pulaski County High School.
The Braves were paced by power running back General Hardwick, who scored two touchdowns, of 85 yards and 77 yards, and rushed for a game-high 271 yards.
Pulaski’s defense was no match for Hardwick’s quickness, as the young speedster outdistanced the nearest Mustang defenders by nearly 20 yards on both his of two long touchdown runs. Hardwick even had a 90-yard touchdown run called back because of a Southern penalty.
However, it was Pulaski who threaten in the early goings after Konner Hargis scampered 66 yards for a touchdown with 4:28 left in the first quarter. Pulaski’s Tristen Cox ran in the extra point conversion to put Pulaski up 7-0.
Hardwick quickly countered with a 85-yard touchdown run with 2:46 left in the opening period.
Hardwick struck again at the end of the first half with his second score of the game, a 77-yard touchdown strike. After two failed PATs, Southern led Pulaski 12-7 at halftime.
Pulaski opened the second half with a solid offensive drive spearheaded by Jackson Cooper. The Mustangs drove the ball all the way to the Braves 16-yard line, but the Southern defense held their ground and regained the football after Pulaski turned it over on loss of downs.
“Our defense is made up of some first-year players like Codey Harmon and Josh Dick, who really stepped it up today,” Southern coach Don Downey said. “They made some unbelievable stops.”
Southern capitalized on their defensive stand by scoring again in the fourth quarter. This time it was Xavier Streeter racing into the end zone for a 71-yard touchdown run. After Kevin Troxtel’s extra point conversion run, Southern led 19-7.
“Everybody in the league said we were a one-dimensional team with General Hardwick, but our school got really blessed when the Streeter family moved into the community,” Downey said. “We are really lucky to have two talented runners in General and Xavier, and they played great for us all year.”
Besides Hardwick’s 271 rushing yards and Streeter’s 75 rushing yards, Codey Harmon had 6 yards on the ground. For Pulaski, Cooper rushed for 100 yards.
Defensively, Josh Dick and Codey Harmon had 10 tackles apiece for the Braves. Kevin Hughes had 6 tackles, while Hardwick and Streeter had 5 tackles apiece.
“Pulaski has no reason to hold their heads down because they are awesome kids,” Downey said. “Konner Hargis, Jackson Cooper and Tristen Cox have played phenomenal for Pulaski all year. Our goal was to stop them as much as possible and we had some first-year kids who really did that.”
“Our defensive coaches, Grant Hardwick and Jerome Flynn, really have a nose for the defense and they stressed to the kids to always watch for the ball and let the play develop,” Downey said.
After Southern’s Super Bowl win last year, Downey had his head shaved in front of his team. After Saturday’s Super Bowl win, the Braves’ coach was forced to perform some post-game antics again.
“I told the kids if they won the Super Bowl this year I would wear a pink dress,” Downey said with a grin. “So, I had to wear on pink dress on the 50-yard line, but the kids got a kick out of it and that is all that matters.”
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Related Photos
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The Southern Elementary Braves hold up their Pulaski County Youth Football League Super Bowl trophy after they downed Pulaski 19-7 on Saturday. Steve Cornelius Photo
General Hardwick scores 2 TD’s in Southern’s 19-7 win
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