Preps

Armwood 31, Freedom 9

By PETER ARRABAL, Times Correspondent
Published October 27, 2007

SEFFNER - Armwood clinched the Class 4A-District 11 championship in a rout of the visiting Freedom Patriots.

"We were 'Smithless in Seffner' today, but we were still accomplishing things and that's encouraging," said Hawks head coach Sean Callahan about missing his team's leading rusher, Eric Smith, and linebacker Jamiel "Petey" Smith.

Quarterback Mywan Jackson passed for 166 yards and rushed for another 121, scoring twice. His only mistake was getting sacked for a safety in the third quarter.

"When they got the safety, [Mywan] made a bad decision," said Callahan. "But all-in-all, he made very good decisions."

Sophomore Sherman Jessie paced the Hawks with 12 rushes for 54 yards and a touchdown. He also scored in the second quarter on a 46-yard pass from Rob Jones.

"We're excited about the things we were doing with Sherman Jessie today," said Callahan. "We were getting him out on the perimeter a lot more."

Freedom (1-7, 1-3) made the game close in the third quarter when freshman passer Josh Grady hit Larry Thompson for a 37-yard score at the end of the quarter.

"(Freedom) put a nice drive together," said Callahan. "They threw the ball down and picked on our one new guy and they did some good things."

Freedom had a chance to make the game close after Armwood fumbled at its own 45-yard line early in the fourth quarter. But Grady threw an interception after a series of penalties put the Patriots in a third-and-15 situation.

Grady finished with 152 yards passing, a touchdown and two interceptions. He also rushed for seven yards.

Armwood can finish the regular season undefeated with a win at Middleton next week.

"Tonight we won the district championship," said Callahan. "We feel good about that. That was the big thing to focus on tonight."

[Last modified October 26, 2007, 23:50:30]