Mission teenager wins first place in Seattle Seahawks team

championship

SEATTLE - Emilio Bravo had been here before.

In 2007, he had finished second at the Punt, Pass and Kick Seattle Seahawks team championship by a half an inch.

This time, the 13-year-old won with a total of 267 feet last Sunday at CenturyLink Field in Seattle and could be competing at a Punt, Pass and Kick competition at an NFL playoff game this year.

"I was pretty mad the first time," Bravo said with a laugh.

However, he was all smiles this time around after Bravo turned in a punt of 75 feet, a pass of 110 feet and a kick of 80 feet.

"I like to throw and kick the ball," Bravo, who has been playing organized football since sixth grade, said.

For the Mission Middle School football team, Bravo has played kicker, punter, center and defensive end.

"It's pretty fun pushing kids around," he said.

Bravo said that with contestants coming from several different states including Washington, Oregon, Idaho, western Montana and Alaska, the pressure was certainly on.

Bravo had been working hard in preparation of this event and even got the opportunity to have one practice session with the redshirt freshman kicker for the University of Montana before the team championship.

The experienced kicker performed well, although not by his lofty standards, and took gold in the Punt Pass and Kick competition for 12-and 13-year-old boys.

"I was pretty excited," Bravo said. "My uncle was right behind me and he was pretty excited too."

Bravo was also able to take in the Seattle Seahawks-Washington Redskins game last Sunday in one of the best stadium environments in the entire NFL.

"It was really loud and a lot of people were there," Bravo said. "It was crazy."

The top four winners in each age group will advance to the national finals. However, Bravo won't know if he made the national final cut until December. Currently, results are unofficial until all of the team championships have taken place.

Bravo has already received plenty of attention, getting a fire truck ride through the town of St. Ignatius last Monday.

A fundraiser was held for Bravo in order to pay for his trip to Seattle for the team championship competition. However, if he qualifies for the National Finals, he said he will get his plane ticket, game ticket and hotel room completely paid for.

Eight different Lake County youths finished in the top three of the Western Sectional held on Oct. 9 in Missoula and Bravo was one of them earning a total of 317 feet.

Since Bravo is in eighth grade it seems that Mission should not only have a strong lineman coming through the ranks, but perhaps the best young special teams player in Western Montana.

The NFL Punt, Pass and Kick program is the oldest NFL Youth Football program in existence after it was established in 1961.