Peach State All-Stars win 14U National Championship

Published 11:04 pm Thursday, December 16, 2021

VALDOSTA – As football season winds down, Titletown is still adding to its resume.

On Dec. 10, the Peach State All-Stars defeated the Maryland Seahawks 27-26 in overtime to win the United Youth Football League 14U National Championship in Plant City, Fla.

The Peach State All-Stars consisted of players from Valdosta, Lowndes, Colquitt and Dougherty County as well as Quincy and Perry, Fla. Though the group only had two practices as a team, Peach State went a perfect 4-0 in the tournament.

“I’m certainly proud of the young men,” Peach State All-Stars head coach Reginald Mitchell said. “There were teams there from all over the United States. We won a national championship off of two practices with these young men. What they accomplished was amazing.”

Peach State beat a nationally-ranked team in the Seahawks, who had dominated the 14U field – winning the last eight national championships in a row.

“We unseated a giant,” Mitchell said. “Speaking of giants, (the Seahawks) had an offensive line that averaged six feet and probably 320, 330 pounds all the way across. To go there and assemble these young men and go play in that tournament, it was a great accomplishment. I’m thankful to the coaching staff. Josh Norwood and the guys did a phenomenal job preparing these kids for the success we had.”

Peach State opened the tournament by shutting out the Plant City Dolphins A team 40-0 on Dec. 5.

In the second round, Peach State continued to roll – scoring another shutout with a 37-0 victory against the First State All-Stars in the quarterfinals.

Facing the Ward 5 Warriors out of Philadelphia, Peach State’s shutout streak ended as they allowed two points on a safety in an 18-2 semifinal win to advance to the championship game.

“Going into our prep for the game, we had to change our whole defense because we knew that they were going to try to straight up bully us,” Peach State lineman Ashton Beaufort said. “We knew that we didn’t have the most size, so we had to stack up the box so we could stop their run. We knew once we did that, we were going to win and that’s exactly what happened.”

Peach State knocked off the powerhouse Seahawks 27-26 in their most fiercely contested game of the tournament.

“Going into the game, we knew it was going to be hard given we had heard our coaches talking about how (Maryland) had won eight times straight,” Beaufort said. “So we were mentally prepared but once we got on the field, we really realized we were going to have to give it our all and that’s what we ended up doing and that’s how we came out with the win 27-26.”

Without much practice time, most teams would struggle to develop chemistry – especially in a tournament format.

According to Beaufort, the lack of practice time was a gap closed by so many of the Peach State players being from Valdosta-Lowndes County and the surrounding areas

“I think it’s a good collection of talent, but most of us, we already knew each other from going to previous camps and with Valdosta and Lowndes, we’re like next door neighbors pretty much,” Beaufort said of the team jelling despite limited practice time. “It wasn’t anything new for us to come together and play on an all-star team.”

Winning a national championship at any level requires many different things – preparation, mental toughness, seizing the moment and a little bit of luck.

Peach State only allowed points from an opposing offense once in four games while averaging 30.5 points over four games. Defensively, opponents averaged just seven points against Peach State at the National Championships.

South Georgia football has a lofty reputation when it comes to high school football with Valdosta High School boasting the winningest program in the country.

In winning the UYFL 14U national crown, Beaufort believes the team’s victory sent a message to other regions of the country that want to stake a claim to being the nation’s best on the gridiron.

“It lets them know that we’re way better than everybody thinks we are because when people say football, they automatically think about Georgia,” Beaufort said. “But when they think about national championships, they think about out west in California or up north in Philadelphia and all that, but doing what we did that weekend, we had to show them that Georgia football is really something to mess with.”

Shane Thomas is the sports editor at the Valdosta Daily Times.