The Greenville peewee football team was a well-oiled machine Saturday night in Prattville as the Tigers handily wrangled in the East Montgomery Longhorns 47-14.

The win cemented the undefeated Tigers as the champions of the Central Alabama Youth Football League.

Adam Simmons, the Tigers’ head coach, said that his team’s hunger for the championship was evident from the outset, with a fast and physical performance that caused problems for the Longhorns from the very outset. “This was the most physical game we’ve played all year,” Simmons said.

“From start to finish, not much went wrong.  I told them right before the game that things were going to go wrong, and we gave up two touchdowns on some blown assignments that resulted in big plays, but other than that we were really close to being perfect.”

Greenville quarterback Shonderick Hamilton got the job done with his arm and legs, throwing and running for a pair of touchdowns that cemented the Tigers’ early lead.

The Longhorns cut the Greenville lead to just 7 points with just 5 seconds remaining in the half, but a misdirection play from Hamilton picked up 60 yards and a touchdown to renew Greenville’s lead to two scores.

The Tigers came out in the second half and scored on every subsequent drive.  East Montgomery, on the other hand, never found the end zone again.

Simmons said that the win means a great deal not just for the peewee league, but for Greenville football as a whole.

“To put it in perspective, the very first championship I won in youth football was with the same group of kids that graduated last year from Greenville, with the exception of a couple,” Simmons said.

“That group that won the championship as young kids is the same group that played St. Pauls and lost by two points to who would end up being the state champions last year.

“I really think the group that I’m with right now will be the next group to compete for a state championship in Greenville.”

Simmons added that the true measure of a great football team aren’t often physical characteristics, but mental ones. 

“I saw a lot of talent on the field, but the thing that impressed me most was their discipline,” Simmons said.

“The finished product is the most important thing to me, and that’s the ability to watch them go on and do something bigger in life, and maybe do something bigger in life and maybe win that state championship and be better men down the road.”

The Tigers will play one final game in early December as representatives of the River Region in a Battle of the Champions, tentatively set for Dec. 3.