Hoover youth football team invited to national championship Southeast regional

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A Hoover youth football team has been invited to participate in the Pro Football Hall of Fame National Youth Football Championship Southeast regional tournament next month.

The sixth-grade Hoover Bucs will be among eight teams in the 12U Southeast regional in Locust Grove, Georgia, on Nov. 28-30, said Karen King, director of the national tournament. Other teams are still being confirmed, King said. The Southeast region includes Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina and Tennessee.

The winner of the regional tournament then will progress to the national tournament at the Pro Football Hall of Fame in Canton, Ohio, two weeks later, with the national championship game being played on Sunday, Dec. 17.

“It’s cool,” said Greg Blackman, the team’s coach, who is in his 23rd season of coaching youth football in Hoover. “You’ll see a lot of great competition. People don’t come to those if they’re not very competitive teams.”

And Blackman’s team is definitely competitive. Over the past seven years, since kindergarten, his team has managed a 69-2 record, with 56 straight wins, he said. They’re obviously undefeated this year and battling in the playoffs for another championship. So far this year, they have outscored opponents 237-13, including 16 points scored by the defense, assistant coach Ky Gregory said.

There are 26 boys on the team, and 15 of them have been together since the third grade, Blackman said. Not all of them will be able to go to the Southeast regional tournament, but most of them will, Gregory said.

Blackman said he has competed in numerous out-of-state tournaments before, but this is the most organized youth football tournament he has ever seen. It is the first year this particular tournament has been held. The Pro Football Hall of Fame, the sponsor, is trying to make it the equivalent of the Little League World Series, Blackman said.

“All we can do is go play,” Blackman said. “We’ve got to go give it our best. If we win, great. If we don’t, it’ll be a great experience.”

A representative from the national tournament is scheduled to be in Hoover on Sunday, Nov. 5, to issue the official invitation to the Southeast regional. The ceremony will be at Hoover Sports Park Central at 7 p.m., and the public is invited.