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Rabbits Take League Title

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By DAREK SHARP, The Tampa Tribune

Published: November 3, 2007

PLANT CITY - In the final game of the Junior League season, the Rabbits earned the championship by beating the Wildcats 15-0 in Plant City Recreation and Parks Department/Optimist Youth Flag Football program play.

The three older age groups hold postseason tournaments to decide their champs. The Junior League, for 6- and 7-year-olds, ended play with the regular season's conclusion. As it turned out, the teams with the best two records were scheduled to meet Oct. 27, the last day of the Junior League season.

Dylan Williams ran for a touchdown; Jerry Rich caught a touchdown pass from Vincent Atkins; and the two connected on a point-after touchdown pass. The result gave the Rabbits and Wildcats the final records of 6-1, but the head-to-head win means the Rabbits are the titlists.

The Rabbits lost the first game of the year two days earlier to the Indians, who finished 2-3-2 for the season.

The Indians nearly knocked off the third-place Bobcats (5-2) on Oct. 27. Conner Murphy scored two touchdowns, and Will PeQueen had the decisive one-point conversion run in the Bobcats' 19-18 win over the Indians, who got three touchdowns from Caleb Micher.

In the last game of the season, the Frogs won an entertaining 28-20 decision over the Dalmatians. Yasmarra Palomares, Baylor Rozzell, Donald Royster and James Hoff scored touchdowns for the Frogs. Noah Simpson had a pair of touchdowns for the Dalmatians.

None of the program's teams was able to run through the year with a perfect 7-0 record, but the Broncos in the Senior League, for 8- and 9-year-olds, and the Bucs in the Elite League, for 13- to 15-year-olds, came the closest, both going 6-0-1.

The Bucs were 6-0 before the last game and finished in a 14-14 tie against the Rams. Michael Bennett and Josh Davis did the scoring for the Bucs, and Ronald Holley and Abdon Lopez had touchdowns for the Rams, who came in with a 1-5 record.

The Broncos finished the regular season with a 20-0 defeat of the Chargers last weekend. Charles Box III had two touchdown runs, and Steven Barlett ran an interception back for a score.

Also in the Senior League, the Jaguars finished 6-1 with a 24-6 victory over the Ravens. Steve Witchoskey ran in three touchdowns.

In a makeup game last week, the Jaguars handed the Steelers (5-1-1) their first loss. In the regular season, the Broncos and Steelers tied 6-6, and the Broncos gave the 6-1 Jags their only defeat in a 19-2 game played in late September.

The Jaguars and Steelers were slated to play again in a tournament semifinal game Thursday, and the Broncos sat in the other half of the Senior League bracket.

Playoff action began Monday. There was a great game in which the Chargers went into double overtime to beat the Raiders 28-27. Chris Macca had two touchdowns, and Zachary Cross had the game-winning point-after touchdown run. Elijah Johnson scored three touchdowns for the Raiders, one on an interception return.

The Chargers were scheduled to play the Broncos, a 20-12 winner over the Dolphins, Thursday night.

Jeff Williams had two scores as the Steelers opened with an 18-14 win over the Ravens. The Jags rolled over the Bears 36-13.

Monday's first round of the Premier League tournament for 10- to 12-year-olds saw one of the regular season's best teams get knocked out. The Jets, who entered the playoffs with a 6-1 record, lost to the Lions 20-12. Austin Baxter ran for one touchdown and threw to Robert Seguin to another.

The other 6-1 squad almost got beat as well Monday, but the Titans got past the Vikings 20-14 in overtime. Kristen Wyckoff had the game-winning score.

All three league championship games will be held at 9 a.m. today.

Reporter Darek Sharp can be reached at dsharp@tampa trib.com.

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