More than 35 participants took part in the NFL Pepsi Punt, Pass & Kick competition hosted by the Dowagiac Lions Club on Sunday at Chris Taylor Alumni Field in Dowagiac.

These youngsters earned first-place honors in their respective age groups:

Girls
Age 8-9: Haley Soderbloom – 101-9
Age 10-11: Mara Nelson     – 165-1
Age 12-13: Heather Hammond –    79-9
Age 14-15: Alex Forsythe – 147-6

Boys
Age 8-9: Brenden Dudley -186-4
Age 10-11: Enrique Aguirre -187-10
Age 12-13: Dean Klann – 364-9
Age 14-15: No Participants
One punt, one pass and one kick accounted for the cumlative total.

These seven winners now will move on to a Sectional Competition, to be held on Oct.  11 at 1 p.m. in Kalamazoo at Mayors Riverfront Park.

They could qualify for the Team Championship competition to be held at Ford Field in Detroit on Nov. 22 when the Detroit Lions take on the Cleveland Browns in a 1:00 PM game.

The NFL Punt, Pass & Kick football competition allows youngsters to showcase their talents in punting, passing,and kicking with scores based on distance and accuracy.

A number of former and current NFL players have competed in Punt, Pass & Kick, including record-setting quarterbacks Dan Marino and Drew Bledsoe.