Local teams embrace summer 7-on-7 series
Offseason game played for more than just grins as Dawson, Manvel already qualified for state
When football teams sign up for 7-on-7 qualifying tournaments they have dreams of being one of the last two standing and clinching a berth in the state tournament in July.
Those that register for the season opener at Manvel might want to start counting on only one of those two berths being up for grabs. That’s because Manvel has become pretty good at keeping one for itself.
Manvel added to its rising 7-on-7 tradtion kept last week by winning its own state qualifying tournament for the second year in a row. It is the fourth consecutive year and fifth in sixth year the Mavericks have qualified for the state tournament. Dawson also qualified, beating Houston Lamar in the semifinals and falling to Manvel in the championship.
Manvel 7-on-7 coordinator Ryan Middleton says it never gets old because so much of what the team does in the fall is practiced during the summer.
“When I took over Manvel had never been to state,” Middleton said.
“The kids had a burning desire to move on. Knowing that we qualified now everybody can exhale. Now we can working in some of the younger kids in the tournaments. Every year you lose kids and you have to get new kids familiar with how 7-on-7 works. It’s just a continuation of the regular season.”
The 7-on-7 includes many of the kids who have made big names for themselves in the fall. TCU pledge D’Eriq King is still the quarterback. He and backup Kyle Trask still have familiar names to throw to in Reggie Hemphill, D’Vaughn Pennamon and Arik Bennett. Hunter Hagdorn has emerged as a talented wide receiver.
The defense is anchored by top level recruits Deontay Anderson and Derrick Tucker. They are joined by up-and-comers Brandon Bell, Jordan Carmouche, Josiah Joseph and Depreist Taylor.
The Mavericks will compete in two more qualifying tournaments, though they’ll have to stop playing after pool play in those.
They will play in a league once a week this summer and practice one other night each week.
They hope it all builds up to a winning run at the state tournament in July. Manvel played all the way to the championship game in 2012 and to the semifinals last year. Most importantly, however, the Mavericks every year ant to keep the momentum going from the previous fall.
“You hear so much about 7-on-7 and people wonder if it’s good or not,” Middleton said. “We wouldn’t be doing this every year if it wasn’t good. We believe it really transitions into the regular season. It’s about working on the communication and the teamwork aspects.”
While Manvel has plenty of familiar names leading it to state, Dawson qualified with a bunch of new players. That includes sophomore quarterback Zach Smith, who takes over for Vance Galloway.
While Smith will get many of the reps during league play and at practice, the rest of the Dawson players will move in and out of the lineup as often as possible. Coach Eric Wells said qualifying so early in the summer is an advantage.
“Usually in 7-on-7 you have your top 20, but we really don’t. We have a top 30,” Wells said. “(Now that we’re qualified) It’s easier to let some of those younger guys get good experience against top competition in these tournaments.”
The defense was led by Patrick Howell, Carl Isaac and Mykul Mitchell.
The position with the greatest depth is wide receiver. The Eagles have as good a receiving group as the school has ever had. Kids like Brailon Mouton and Caleb White are two examples of good group of big targets.
They’ll be catching passes from Smith, who Wells said has distanced himself from the group of signal callers that could take the first snap on Friday night in the fall.
“He’s smart and his football sense is off the chart,” Wells said. “He has great leadership skills. The older guys around him believe in him. It’s great when you have that dynamic.”