The 5/6-year old Jr. Hurricanes youth football team defeated the Jr. Bengals 36-22 in the championship game Wednesday night at Memorial Stadium.

“It feels great to be a repeat champion,” Jr. Hurricanes head coach Thomas Badie said. “I love this team, city and organization. Selma Hurricanes are here for a long time.”

The Jr. Hurricanes were led by Ja’Kobi Freeman’s 156 rushing yards and four touchdowns. Freeman also had four rushes of more than 20-yards in the game. The Jr. Bengals were led in rushing by Kyson Thomas and Brandon Wooten II. Thomas rushed for 63 yards and a touchdown, while Wooten had two touchdowns in the game.

The Jr. Hurricanes started the game with the ball, and scored on the second play of the game. Freeman ran a 30-yard touchdown and Terrance Green Jr. converted the two-point attempt for an 8-0 lead.

The Jr. Bengals were unable to answer on their first drive, and Jr. Hurricanes running back Kennedy Perryman scored a 40-yard touchdown on the next play.

Down by 14 points in the second quarter, the Jr. Bengals completed a scoring drive with an 11-yard touchdown run by Wooten II with 1:28 remaining in the half.

The Jr. Hurricanes tried to score once more before the first half ended, but Perryman was stopped at the 9-yard line as time expired.

The Jr. Bengals had possession of the ball for 75 percent of the third quarter, and Thomas tied the game at 14-14 on an 8-yard run with 1:54 left in the quarter.

However, Freeman answered back on the next play with a 40-yard touchdown run and converted the two-point attempt.

On the next Jr. Bengals drive, Wooten ran in a 9-yard touchdown and Thomas followed it up with a successful two-point conversion to tie the game at 22 with 1:14 left in the game.

The final minute of the championship game came down to the biggest plays of the game.

The Jr. Hurricanes ran two plays for Freeman that led to a 13-yard touchdown run and another two-point conversion by Perryman to make the score 30-22.

The Jr. Bengals only had 39 seconds to answer, but they fumbled the ball on their second play of their final drive and it was recovered by Green Jr. of the Jr. Hurricanes.

“[The Jr. Hurricanes] fought real hard,” Jr. Bengals head coach Brandon Wooten said. “Things just didn’t turn out our way, but we played a real hard game and I’m really proud of them for doing the best that they can.”

The final play of the game was a 20-yard touchdown run by Freeman to complete the championship season.

“It was a nail-biter at first, but we pulled it out in the end though,” Badie said. “No team out here can stand in front of our Hurricanes.”