Photo by Erin Nelson.
Pizitz’s Noah Boylan takes the ball across midfield in the second half of the seventh grade football metro championship game between Pizitz Middle and Berry Middle at Spain Park High School’s Jaguar Stadium on Oct. 13.
The Pizitz Middle School seventh grade football team knew it would not be an easy task to slow down Berry in the Metro Conference championship game, but the Pirates got off to a great start and rolled to a 40-12 win over the Jaguars on Oct. 13.
Pizitz forced two fumbles in the first quarter and Noah Boylan scored two of his four total touchdowns in the game. The Pirates jumped out to a 21-0 lead and never looked back, capturing the title.
Head coach David McKenzie said the team being able to run the ball so effectively from the start was key in the team’s all-around dominant performance.
“We were really able to move the ball and our offensive line did a really good job of blocking and the running backs did a good job,” said McKenzie, the first-year head coach. “The kids saw that and started believing. Our defense picked up and they started flying to the ball and they got that momentum.”
McKenzie has been an assistant coach and athletic trainer for the football team for several years, but in his first season as the head coach, he credited the players and his coaching staff for the team having such a great year. Tyler Tidmore and Mark Brooks ran the offense, while Matt Eddleman and Ben McCullars helped out with the defense.
It took Pizitz a couple games to gain its footing, but once that happened, the Pirates rolled through the remainder of the season. The year began with a close 16-14 win over Liberty Park. The next week, the Pirates suffered their only loss in an 18-6 defeat to Simmons. A 25-6 win over Homewood followed that.
The game that turned the tide of the season for Pizitz was against Clay-Chalkville, a 14-12 win for the Pirates. McKenzie called that a hard-fought win that instilled the team with the belief that “they could beat anybody.”
Pizitz went on to beat Mountain Brook 29-12, Hewitt-Trussville by a score of 14-6 and Bragg by a tally of 33-6 to earn the No. 1 seed from the North division of the Metro Conference.
With the win in the title game, the Pirates finished 7-1 overall and 5-0 in the North division.
Quarterback Nicholas Williams, wide receiver Grayson Harper, linebacker Jackson Martin and lineman Haynes Bridges all made the All-Metro team, but McKenzie said the team got great contributions across the board.
“They worked really well together and they were willing to play where we put them, based on where we thought they could help us as a team,” he said. “They’re a really hard-working group and were very coachable, which really helped.”
As the season went on, the Pizitz coaching staff saw the team continue to improve, leading all the way to claiming the trophy at the end.
“They played with a lot of heart and fight in games that were close and stuck it out and came out on top. It’s a really good group of kids,” McKenzie said.
