In a matchup between two of the newest teams to the PFFL Youth League, the PATRIOTS got the best of the CARDINALS 19-18. While the RAVENS are the team that everybody’s talking about, the PATS and CARDS showed why they might take some of that spotlight away from last season’s champs.
Hayden Brook, the kid with the extremely cool athletic goggles, turned in a dominant performance against the CARDINALS. At one point, the young man scored seven straight points for the PATRIOTS to help his squad score 13 unanswered points. During a CARDINALS’ extra point attempt, Brook caught an interception and ran all the way to the end zone for one point. Then on the PATS’ next possession, Brook took a handoff coast-to-coast to give his team a 13-12 advantage.
In addition, Jehlani Alston was a one-man wrecking crew. The pint-sized player scored on a hand-off play as well as registering a sack on the PATRIOTS’ quarterback. Moral of this story: It’s not the size of the dog in the fight, it’s the size of the fight in the dog.
As for the CARDS, they received multiple contributions that kept the game close until the very end. First Daeshon Butler was a beast, catching two touchdown passes on plays that looked eerily similar to each other. Also, Josh DiMatteo got on the board when he scored the CARDINALS’ final touchdown.
While the CARDINALS were able to put up 18 points against the PATRIOT defense, Coach Andy Krawchyk expressed concern about his top two players (Butler and DiMatteo) tendencies to defer to each other when they feel pressured. Krawchyk admitted that he needs to do a better job of integrating the rest of the team into the CARDINALS offensive game plan.
