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Kissimmee, FL— The state’s best middle school athletes gathered for a day long 7v7 tournament sponsored by Adidas Football and Airo Sports at suburban Orlando’s Austin Tindall Park today. The competition between middle school All-star 7v7 teams dubbed ‘Rising Stars’ was intense. The semi-finals were composed of two South Florida teams (one from Miami-Dade County and one from Broward County) and two teams from Brevard County. The overall Rising Stars Adidas 7v7 Florida State Championship winner was Team Miami-Dade lead by talented 2019 QB Dalen Menard and sensational wide out Tyler March. Head coach Tavaris Bragdon, lead his team to an undefeated record during the tournament with a team largely comprised of athletes that played on his 2014 AYFL 13U Tamarac Cougars squad.
March was really the star of the tournament, serving as a huge target for the accurate Menard and rising above defenders regularly to make plays in the air living up to his nickname ‘megatron.’ The Ft. Lauderdale based Broward County team wasn’t a pushover. Lead by Head coach Travis Smith, a University of Miami Alumn, they pushed team Miami-Dade early. They were led by the strong offensive play of Grantis Poole, a 2019 ATH headed to Ft. Lauderdale’s Cardinal Gibbons High School. Poole was a consistent pass catcher and excellent defender at corner.
Overall, the Adidas Florida State Championship 7v7 event put on by Airo Sports was an incredible showcase. Nearly 60 teams from across the state on the high school and middle school level came out to compete in a two-day competition.
Organizers weren’t shy about touting the extremely competitive nature of Florida football, something most in attendance would vouch for.
After the tournament was over, Football Hotbed named qualifying athletes who we deemed deserving, middle school All-Americans. Here are the All-Americans named during the tournament:
CLASS OF 2020
- Dylan Gertz, LB (Merritt Island, FL)
- Kenmyree Anderson, ATH (Merritt Island, FL)
- Adrian Manning, WR
CLASS OF 2021
- Byrce Norton, ATH (Viera, FL)
- Jamari Nelson, WR (Melbourne, FL)
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- 2020 Class of All Americans
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- 2020 Dylan Gertz, LB
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- 2020 Adrian Manning, ATH
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- 2021 Bryce Norton, ATH
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- Team Miami-Dade County, Rising Star Champions
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- 2019 Grantis Poole, ATH
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- 2019 Tyler March, WR
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- Sportsmanship after the game
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- 2021 All-Americans with Central FL Director Rae Kameka
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- The Rising Stars FL State Winner
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- 2020 Kenmyree Anderson, ATH
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- 2019 Daelen Menard, QB
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- 2021 Jamari Nelson, ATH
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