Two young athletes from Brewton recently had the opportunity to compete at the Punt, Pass, and Kick competition in New Orleans Monday night.
Nolan Atkinson and Steely Ruzic competed after winning their local competition in Brewton and advanced to New Orleans after placing at the regional competition in Pensacola.
The first place winners at the Pensacola competition were Atkinson, Jaxson Flores, and Ruzic. Second place winners in Pensacola were Haley Thompson, Jacoby Hawthorn, and Hayden Atkinson. Hunter Harp placed third.
Atkinson’s score of 196.7 at the Pensacola competition allowed him to score high enough to go to New Orleans. He scored second highest to another participant from Louisiana who scored 211.
Each child was in competition between 12 different districts, and only the four highest scores were allowed to advance to the Superdome.
Atkinson said he was nervous in New Orleans, but it was a lot of fun.
“My daddy is awesome because he helped me get ready for the PPK,” Atkinson said. “We practiced a lot. My brother Hayden helped me too. It was fun to shake all the players hands when they ran out the tunnel, like Mark Ingram and Drew Brees.”
Ruzic said the PPK event was a great experience.
“It was an honor to compete against some great girls and it certainly felt great to make it all the way to New Orleans,” she said. “It was an amazing feeling to actually perform on a pro football field. Overall it was a great experience. I learned a lot and will work hard to make it back next year.”
While at the NFL PPK Team Championship, each participant received a Play 60 T-shirt, Team Jersey, and Team Hat. The trophies for each participant was a football, which denoted the place they earned. Each participant arrived at the Superdome for competition to begin at 3:30 p.m. and while waiting for the competition, they were able to watch the Saintsations practice for their performance during the game. After the competition, they participated in the Awards Banquet where the awards were handed out by former New Orleans Saints Wide Receiver Joe Horn.
Each PPK Participant participated in the pre-game activities prior to the Saints and New York Giants game as they entered the field before the Saints through their tunnel in front of 73,000 fans and formed a victory line with the Saintsations to welcome the team to the field before the game.”
During halftime, each participant entered the field again and threw a pass while the announcer called out their name and hometown.