Macon United reaches AAU 12U national championships

The Macon United 12U football team became the first team from Macon to play in the AAU national championships, going 4-2 and finishing fourth in the tournament played in Davenport, Florida.

The national tournament appearance was set up by wins over teams from Warner Robins, Macon, Augusta, Savannah and Macon County. With the help of parents, the club decided early on that this was a team that they wanted to take to the national championships.

“We knew we had a very talented group, and we wanted to see how we would do against teams from all over the nation,” said head coach Adonis Hollingshed, who has been coaching youth football for 16 years. “We were scoring a lot of points and not giving up any, and everyone was anxious to play against great competition.”

Macon United rolled to four straight wins in the tournament and led Apopka, Florida, a team that has won four of the past five championships, with four minutes left in the game. But Apopka intercepted a pass and ran it back for the game-winning touchdown.

Macon United then dropped the consolation game to end the tournament.

“We had the team to win this tournament, but we got a little greedy with the lead and it ended up hurting us,” Hollingshed said. “It was a heartbreaking loss for us, but when it came down to it it was a great way to teach these kids that things don’t always work out and you just have to keep moving forward. We feel like we should have come back to Macon with a national title, but we have 15 players coming back so we will try again next year.”

Among Macon United’s top players were Qua’Vontae Rutledge, A’khori Jones, Kobe Butts and Markelo Green.

“We needed every one of these kids to be successful, and the main thing was to get these kids interested in continuing their football careers,” Hollingshed said. “I mean, we were playing teams from places like Las Vegas and Ohio and staying in a vacation house, and most of them have never done anything like that. Of course we wanted to win, but it was still a great week of learning and competition.”

The roster: William Balkcom, Jaden Barker, Javious Bond, Malek Bronner, Kobe Butts, Dominick Faircloth, Markelo Green, Joelan Harden, D’Icey Hopkins, Brian Jackson, DaJon James, A’khori Jones, DonJuan Mc’Gee, LaVontae Miley, Ke’shaun Mitchell, Jieyre Chavis-Moore, Ja’Khari Poole, Qua’Vontae Rutledge, Travion Searcy, Carlos Sellars, Gavin Williams and E’Correious Williams.

This story was originally published January 2, 2017 at 2:29 PM with the headline "Macon United reaches AAU 12U national championships."