Football isn’t just a boy’s game, anymore.
At the 2013 NFL Punt, Pass & Kick Team Championship Dec. 8, three Plant City girls took home first-place honors: Taylor Edgemon, Gracie Edgemon and Shelby Jacobsen each won their respective age groups.
Although the girls’ scores may not be high enough to get them to the PPK National Finals, they were all proud of what they accomplished on the field.
And, it wasn’t just those three that turned in a good outing. Plant City was represented by six kids — four girls, two boys — and all placed in the top three for their age groups.
Plant City’s three winners each have a story to tell. For the Edgemon sisters, this year’s competition was both an end and a beginning.
ONE LAST HURRAH
Taylor Edgemon is no stranger to the PPK scene.
This was the 15-year-old’s eighth and final year as a competitor, having started in and winning around Plant City since she was in elementary school.
“My dad had me practicing and competing when I was 8 years old,” Taylor says. “My grandfather wanted me to do it, too.”
As it turned out, the Edgemon men were on to something. Taylor won every competition she entered in the Plant City area and often found herself winning in the next round at the Tampa Bay Buccaneers’ practice field. She didn’t always get high enough scores to qualify for the next round, though.
There were two exceptions: once, when she was 9 years old, and once again this month. She placed fourth in her first competition, so she wanted to go out on top to end her career.
She finally made it back to Raymond James Stadium and won the competition with a total distance of 171 feet, 4 inches.
“It was really fun, because it was my last year doing it,” Taylor says. “It was kind of pressuring. But, it was good to win my last one.”
Because 15 is the age cut-off year for PPK, her career is over. But, for her younger sister, this is just the beginning.
THE REPLACEMENT
Gracie Edgemon is new to the PPK scene. At 7 years old, she’s a little younger in her first year of competition than her sister.
She’s also just as determined to win — even if it means taking Taylor’s name out of the record books.
“My favorite thing about Punt, Pass & Kick is beating my sister’s scores,” Gracie says.
Although she didn’t beat her sister’s scores this time around, she still put up a strong showing. In her appearance at the Bucs’ stadium, her distance of 96 feet was good enough to win her a first-place trophy. Not bad for someone whose first competition was just two months ago, at the Otis M. Andrews Sports Complex.
Gracie says her sister was her biggest influence for taking up the hobby. After watching Taylor compete one year, she decided she wanted to give it a try.
“I want to keep doing this until I turn 15,” Gracie says. “I want to do Punt, Pass & Kick at the Super Bowl.”
She’s giving the Edgemon family another eight years to be a part of the action and, so far, she’s off to a good start in filling her sister’s shoes.
“Sometimes, we call her Taylor’s ‘replacement,’” mother Kim Edgemon jokes.
Gracie wasn’t the only winner to be influenced by a sibling.
SISTER’S GOT SKILLS
The Jacobsen house is full of boys, and they all play football. They also compete in PPK events, and that’s where they got their sister, Shelby, hooked.
As with Gracie Edgemon, Jacobsen went to Raymond James Stadium right from the start of her career four years ago. Now 9 years old, she has yet to miss an event.
She won first place every time she competed, except in 2012, when she finished in second place.
“I was hoping to make up for that this year,” Jacobsen says.
She did. Her distance of 149 feet, 4 inches, won her the competition, and she left a happy camper.
“It was really fun,” she says. “I met a lot of kids that were very nice to me, made some new friends.”
One of her brothers, Jarrett, also competed in the Dec. 8 event. Her other brother, Joe, did not compete.
Punt, Pass & Kick competitions have been one of the family’s favorite hobbies for years and, with Jarrett on the verge of aging out, Joe and Shelby will keep going.
She also plans to keep competing until she is too old to continue.
“Whenever I kick, I get the urge to kick it soft,” Jacobsen says. “But then, it goes really far.”
Contact Justin Kline at jkline@plantcityobserver.com.
PLANT CITY WELL-REPRESENTED
14-15 Girls: Taylor Edgemon, first place (171 feet, four inches)
12-13 Girls: Lindsey Smith, third place
8-9 Girls: Shelby Jacobsen, first place (149 feet, four inches)
6-7 Girls: Gracie Edgemon, first place (96 feet)
14-15 Boys: Jarrett Jacobsen, second place
6-7 Boys: William Cordle, third place
