Name: Sheriff’s deputy who tackled Super Bowl field invader was a ‘tough as nails’ high school QB
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Sheriff’s deputy who tackled Super Bowl field invader was a ‘tough as nails’ high school QB

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This article was published more than&nbsp;2 years agoCommentGift SharePatrick Mahomes was sacked three times, Tom Brady was sacked once, and Ronald Jones II was stopped at the goal line on fourth down, but one of the most noteworthy tackles during Sunday’s Super Bowl was not made by a member of the Kansas City Chiefs or Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Instead, it was made by a member of the Hillsborough County (Fla.) Sheriff’s Office after a man ran onto the field and evaded security staffers at Tampa’s Raymond James Stadium.That sheriff’s deputy was identified as Clint Stearns by , which also reported that he was a former quarterback at the Tampa area’s Plant City High. A spokeswoman for the sheriff’s office did not immediately respond to a request for confirmation of that report, but Stearns’s coach at Plant City said he was “100 percent certain” that the tackler was, indeed, the “tough as nails” player who executed his offense during the 2008-09 season.“From everything I’ve seen so far, and from the people who have reached out to me, yes, I’m positive that was Clint,” said the former coach, Jason Strunk, when reached by telephone Monday. Strunk, now the athletic director for the Manheim Township (Pa.) School District, said he couldn’t attest firsthand to Stearns’s tackling skills, having played him solely on offense that season, but Strunk added, “If I ever put him in to do it, he was going to get the job done, no doubt about it.”Best tackle of the game? ! 😜🏈 — HCSO (@HCSOSheriff)The incident occurred during the fourth quarter of the Super Bowl, with the Buccaneers leading the Chiefs 31-9, and it brought the game to a brief halt. CBS declined to show much of the man’s foray onto the field to its audience, but radio announcer Kevin Harlan — as he several times with — gave the semi-streaker his full attention, with humorous results.Advertisement“Someone is running on the field, some guy with a bra,” Harlan said of the man, who was dressed in shorts and a pink singlet that bore the name of a reportedly pornographic website, in an apparent publicity stunt.“And now he’s not being chased, he’s running down the middle at the 40, arms in the air in a victory salute,” Harlan animatedly continued. “He’s pulling down his pants! Pull up your pants, my man! Pull up those pants.“He’s being chased to the 30, he breaks a tackle from a security guard, the 20, down the middle to the 10, the 5, he slides at the 1 and they converge on him at the goal line.”Kevin Harlan's call of the idiot on the field (w/video from ) : — Timothy Burke (@bubbaprog)The field invader was identified Monday as Yuri Andrade, a 31-year-old Boca Raton resident who was booked on a trespassing charge and released on $500 bond. The booking report indicated Andrade told police he was self-employed and described his occupation as “international business.”AdvertisementStrunk said he watched the Super Bowl with his wife and daughter and saw a clip of Harlan’s call later Sunday, but he didn’t realize it was Stearns with the tackle until Monday morning, when he began receiving text messages about it.“That he’s making a tackle in Raymond James Stadium all these years later, it’s pretty cool how that came full circle,” Strunk said. “And how he’s serving the community and protecting the people and the players on the field last night, I think that’s why I got into coaching, to see kids like that succeed and become productive citizens.”A career in law enforcement fits Stearns “to a T,” according to Strunk, who pointed to the former quarterback’s “tough demeanor.”“He was disciplined, easy to work with,” the former coach added. “He always just reminded me of a guy who’s going to serve the community and do the right things.”AdvertisementPer a profile of Stearns at , he completed 62 of 135 passes during the 2008-09 season for 783 yards, three touchdowns and 12 interceptions, adding 49 carries for 259 yards and five scores. A senior that season, Strunk’s first at Plant City, Stearns “played quarterback like a linebacker — he was tough as nails.”If Stearns didn’t make many tackles at Plant City, he certainly knew how to take them in a scheme Strunk said had the quarterback mostly under center with a lot of designed runs, as well as scrambles. “He stood in the pocket and took tough hits,” the ex-coach said, “and delivered the ball.”The one quibble Strunk had with his former player’s performance was that, were it made in a football uniform, the hit could have been flagged for unnecessary roughness, given that Andrade was in the act of giving himself up on the play.“I think he slid feet first, so that would have been a penalty. So of course I would have chewed Clint out for a late hit,” Strunk said with a laugh. “But given the circumstances, I would have given him a pass on it.” | | Column: Commercials: | Halftime show: | Read deeper...• • • • • • Offseason: CommentsGift ArticleTOP STORIESThe DMV GuideWhether you’re a lifelong resident of D.C. or you just moved here, we’ve got you covered.Try a different topic or to save your preferences

This article was published more than&nbsp;2 years agoCommentGift SharePatrick Mahomes was sacked three times, Tom Brady was sacked once, and Ronald Jones II was stopped at the goal line on fourth down, but one of the most noteworthy tackles during Sunday’s Super Bowl was not made by a member of the Kansas City Chiefs or Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Instead, it was made by a member of the Hillsborough County (Fla.) Sheriff’s Office after a man ran onto the field and evaded security staffers at Tampa’s Raymond James Stadium.That sheriff’s deputy was identified as Clint Stearns by , which also...

Sheriff’s deputy who tackled Super Bowl field invader was a ‘tough as nails’ high school QB

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