Fort Pierce FireHawks win 14U Pop Warner National Championship to complete perfect season

The 14U Fort Pierce FireHawks defeated the Northampton Indians from Pennsylvania 38-12 at Camping World Stadium in Orlando on Friday afternoon to win the Pop Warner National Championship.

The FireHawks jumped out to an early lead, led 19-0 at halftime and never let up in the second half to complete a 17-0 perfect season.

"This group always is practicing and the repetitions over from the summer before the season started up until the title game, they were really comfortable and confident with what they do," Firehawks head coach Eddie Davis said. "It turned out to be great, everyone came in with a comfort level that was, go out there and execute."

Joseph Weathers threw five touchdown passes, four of them to Duane Simon in the title game. Cedric Garvin added a touchdown reception and Traveon Townsend and Ardarius Elmore each ran for a touchdown for the Firehawks.

Fort Pierce defeated the Carlsbad Lancers from California 26-0 in the quarterfinals on Dec. 4 and knocked out the Reno Miners from Nevada 20-6 in the semifinals on Dec. 7 in Orlando.

NFL Pro Bowler donation: Khalil Mack Foundation donates $500,000 to Fort Pierce for upgrades to Ilous Ellis Park

Football's finest: A look back at the Treasure Coast's top 10 football games of the year

Before reaching Pop Warner's biggest stage, the FireHawks defeated the Atlanta Southwest Cardinals 29-7 to win the Southeast Regional championship and knocked off the Palm Beach Gators for the Treasure Coast Football Conference Championship to kickstart their postseason.

Up and down the roster, the Firehawks had multiple contributors but the difference maker in Davis' eyes for his team was their size on both the offensive and defensive lines over their competition.

"The foundation of the team starts in the trenches, the offensive line it starts with them and we had a pretty good group of skill guys," Davis said. "We were been able to run the ball effectively up the middle because of our offensive line dominating in the trenches and we were able to get mismatches with our skill guys because we had a lot of speed on the team this year. We got them the ball in space and let them be athletes."

Support from the community fueled the FireHawks throughout the season, with a big name stepping up in more ways than one.

Fort Pierce Westwood graduate and NFL Pro Bowler Khalil Mack had donated $500,000 to IIous Ellis Park, where the FireHawks practice and play back in April, and before Friday's championship game offered words of encouragement to the team the night prior.

"I really appreciated Khalil for those words of wisdom to the guys, it happened while we were going through our final practice before leaving for the championship," Davis said. "It meant a lot to the boys being on the field that was named after him, going to play in the national championship getting those words of encouragement, it was an amazing feeling."

The team has grown together over the course of the past four years after the Firehawks were created in 2018 and in three seasons, the group has gone 38-2 moving up to each age group.

Davis and his coaching staff have been with the players the entire time and with the familiarity for the kids to the coaches, the development for the Firehawks has been rapid from year-to-year.

"I've been with this group since they were 10 years old, we've grown over the years together," Davis said. "We've had different camps we'd hold in the offseason, drills and conditioning and they've been able to get that training over the past three years with the same coaching staff. That was a big plus for them in their development, they were able to work on one objective and be successful."

Fort Pierce Firehawks 14U Roster

No./Player

1 Duane Simon II

2 Joesph Weathers, Jr.

3 Traveon Townsend

4 Ardarius Elmore

5 Jabari Monds

6 Jakeim Ellison

7 Jermaine Walker

9 Dakerion Ervin

10 Michael Bell, Jr.

11 Brandon Cummings, Jr.

12 Tyvan Eckles

13 Jarvis Jacobs

14 Cedric Garvin

15 Javon Cruz

16 Brandon Lisbon, Jr.

17 Kagan Rulapaugh

18 Darrell Alexander

19 Terry Bryant

21 Sabastien Polynice

23 Terry Adderly, Jr.

25 Jordan Dickerson

27 Christopher Lynch, Jr.

29 Mylic Bradley

44 Devanson JeanLouis

51 Gregory Merricks III

52 Quinton Dames, Jr.

55 Champ Smith

56 Deareon Jenkins

82 Jontavius Clark, Jr.

This article originally appeared on Treasure Coast Newspapers: Fort Pierce FireHawks complete perfect season with 14U championship