Hometown Malvern Little Leopards face off against Bauxite in title games
YOUTH FOOTBALL 4A CONFERENCE CHAMPIONSHIPS 2022 HOSTED AT CLAUDE MANN STADIUM, DAVID ALPE FIELD
MALVERN — It was a rainy weather outing on the gridiron for youth football championship Saturday, but the hometown Malvern Little Leopards grasped the glory of titles in their battles against the Bauxite Mini Miners at Claude Mann Stadium, on David Alpe Field.
The Malvern Little Leopards third and sixth grade youth football teams captured championship wins—while the fourth grade finished runner-up to represent for the hometown Saturday.
3RD GRADE CHAMPIONSHIP GAME
Malvern 12
Bauxite 6
To kickoff the day of championships, the Malvern Elementary School Little Leopards secured a thrilling victory to claim their youth football title against Bauxite. In the first half, the Little Leopards showcased their offensive execution to ignite two end zone trips and led the Bauxite Mini Miners 12-0 at the break. Malvern’s DJ Baugh sparked the Little Leopard offense and scored a touchdown, then stepped up defensive to return a touchdown on a pick-6 for the interception. Jensen Floriani recovered a fumble that kept Bauxite scoreless for the first half. In the second half, Malvern’s defense took over and kept Bauxite scoreless in the third quarter. But in the fourth, the Mini Miners avoided their scoreless outing and scored their touchdown run at the 2:52 mark—trailing Malvern by a touchdown 12-6. In the closing two minutes of play, the Little Leopards’ defense stood strong and went on to victory as Bauxite
fell short to score on their comeback.
4TH GRADE CHAMPIONSHIP GAME
Malvern 6
Bauxite 14
In the second game of the day, the MES Little Leopards fought a hard battle in the rain, but came up short of victory to the Bauxite Mini Miners 14-6 in their intense championship game. The Mini Miners took a 8-0 lead at the halftime, but Malvern sparked in the second half—with big plays from Jacobi Danner dashing across the goal line to score the Little Leopards’ lone touchdown in the third quarter.
Defensively, Jaidenn Howard came up with the fumble recovery that cut Malvern’s deficit to 8-6 at the end of the third quarter. In the fourth, the Mini Miners sparked offensively to score their second touchdown of the game at the 5:43
mark—but the 2-point conversion was unsuccessful due to the Little Leopards’ defense. As time expired, the Mini Miners celebrated with victory, but the Little Leopards stood proud with title hardware for the runner-up championship trophy for the hometown.
5TH GRADE CHAMPIONSHIP
Overtime
Harmony Grove 6
Fountain Lake 0
6TH GRADE CHAMPIONSHIP GAME
Overtime
Malvern 30
Bauxite 24
For the big match-up of the day, the Malvern sixth grade Little Leopards of Wilson Intermediate School had the toughest fight of the season against the Bauxite Mini Miners. In a competitive showdown that went into extra drive on the gridiron, the Mini Miners had the spark early and led Malvern 12-0 during first half action. It was the first time the Little Leopards trailed by this much this season.
Despite suffering their biggest deficit of the season, the Little Leopards kept that “Leopard Pride” intact and made the remarkable comeback of the year. Before the first half ended at the 2:06 mark, Malvern went to their dashing playmaker Terrance “Butterfinger” Hawkins who soared past the Bauxite defense to score the hometown’s touchdown to build momentum for the second half. At halftime, Bauxite led Malvern 12-6.
In the second half, Malvern had its biggest deficit and trailed Bauxite 18-6 at the end of third quarter action. It was the fourth quarter where the Little Leopards didn’t quit and letdown. With under four minutes left to play before the end of regulation, Malvern overcame their 12-point deficit and ignited two touchdown runs by Hawkins that tied the game at 1818—forcing overtime.
In the overtime period, both teams took their series of possessions on the 10-yard line. The Little Leopards struck first with Jeremy “Nightmare” Norwood scoring for Malvern that gave the hometown Little Leopards a 24-18 lead. Then Bauxite answered back and tied the contest at 24-24.
On the second scoring drive for a series of possessions, Bauxite started out and fell short on their attempts of downs—going four and out by Malvern’s defense.
Malvern journeyed back with Hawkins scoring the game-winning touchdown and the Little Leopards rejoiced in victory 30-24— crowned the 2022 youth football champions of 4A for an undefeated season.