It is on to the Mississippi Gridiron League Super Bowl for two Kosciusko youth football teams. Both qualified with victories in games at New Hope High School last Saturday.
The 9-10-year-old Kosciusko Cardinals defeated the West Point Packers 12-8 and the 11-12-year-old Cardinals defeated the Tri County Falcons 22-8.
The championship games will be Sunday afternoon at Starkville High School with both Kosciusko teams playing teams from Starkville.
The 9-10-year-old team won in dramatic fashion. With less than two minutes left, West Point was up 8-6 and was at the Kosciusko five-yard line when Richard Kern recovered a fumble for Kosciusko. The Cardinals then went 95 yards in two plays. Gavin Howard hooked up with his cousin Jay Howard on an 80-yard pass to the West Point 15. Gavin then ran in for the winning score.
It was also a pass from Gavin to Jay that produced Kosciusko’s first touchdown.
“They played hard and never gave up,” Kosciusko coach Dujuan Miller said of his team. “The other team was really good. I can’t take anything away from them. But our boys just kept fighting and fighting and pulled it out in the end.”
The 9-10 team includes many of the players who won two championships in the 6-8 division.
The running of Ceabon Tolliver and Jamaron Thompson and a strong defensive effort enabled the 11-12-year-olds to defeat Tri County.
“My defense played lights out,” said Coach Corvin Greer.
Tolliver had a 60-yard run for the Cardinals’ final touchdown and Thompson set up the first two TDs with his runs. “They’re our one-two punch. Both are hard runners ,” Greer said.
Quarterback Caden Greer, the coach’s son, scored the first two touchdowns on short runs.
The league consists of teams from Kosciusko, Starkville, Columbus, West Point, Choctaw County and Durant. Games are four 10-minute quarters.
