Eagles return with enhanced firepower
Back at 7-on-7 state tournament for a second straight year, Atascocita hopes to get in shape for fall
Atascocita, a first-time qualifier for the 7-on-7 state tournament last year, is returning to College Station.
The Eagles begin pool play Friday at the Veterans Park and Athletic Complex. The extra games give them more time to hone their skills for the fall, which is ideal for quarterback Daveon Boyd, who is working his way back from a knee injury that prematurely ended his sophomore season.
“(Boyd) was able to go through spring, but it was non-contact, and I know there’s no contact in the summer, but he and a couple of the receivers who are young need all the reps they can get,” coach Craig Stump said. “It allows them to compete and get a lot of reps, even though we’re not out there with them.
“But the biggest thing is to compete, and the kids who went to the state tournament last year wanted to do it again, and they were able to do that.”
Boyd suffered the season-ending knee injury in last year’s opener, forcing Niyl Campbell to move from receiver to quarterback.
Now the Eagles have both weapons in their arsenal.
“Obviously, it’s another athlete on the field,” Stump said. “Niyl Campbell did a great job last year. He wasn’t planning to play quarterback and ended up being called on, and we were 9-1 and he was alldistrict.
“He really did a great job.
“But having him at receiver, and Daveon at the quarterback position, gives us more athleticism on the field.”
Stump said Boyd’s ready for the same work load he had going into last season.
“He was full-go and released in spring ball, but I just didn’t need him in contact situations,” he said.
“(But) you can’t tell anything ever happened.”
The Eagles returned to Lufkin’s state qualifying tournament, where they qualified for state last year, then went to Tyler, where they punched their ticket this summer.
They’ve had to travel out of town for SQTs after not playing much 7-on-7 in previous years.
“They’re hard to get into it,” Stump said.
“They have them at the same sites every time, and with a lot of coaches, sometimes it’s a good-ol’-boy network – ‘Hey, we were here last year so we’ll go back.’ The first of February, when they come out, you say, ‘Well, let’s go to this one or that one,’ and it’s, ‘We’re full, we’re full, we’re full.’”
Atascocita defeated Whitehouse, Lancaster and Lindale in pool play in Tyler, then beat John Tyler in the semifinals to secure their place in College Station.
“Throughout the whole day, we didn’t throw one interception (until the semi), and we had four or five interceptions (on defense) during the day,” Stump said.
Tyler Lee was the other finalist in Tyler, but they opted not to play the final.
“It’s the fifth or sixth game and it’s like 100 degrees, and there’s really no need to play it, so most of the time they don’t play the championship game because both teams are ready to go,” Stump said.
“Once you’ve made it you’ve made it and there’s no need to play another game.”
In addition to Campbell, who Stump said looks very good this summer, at wide receiver, the Eagles have Coye Fairman, Allen Smith and Dawud Shorts.
Smith, who’s on the basketball squad, is playing football at Atascocita for the first time, and Shorts, the younger brother of Quan Shorts, is on offense after seeing most of his time at linebacker last year.
Shorts is expected to back up running back Patrick Taylor this fall.
Devin Hafford, Justin Campbell, who is Niyl’s younger brother, Brandon Loville – another player off the basketball team, where he was a starting guard last season – and Alerick Soularie pace the defense.
Atascocita is in Pool H with Coppell Stratford and Arlington Lamar, which it opens against at 1 p.m. Friday.
The Division I championship game is set for 4 p.m. Saturday.
“Those are good programs,” Stump said.
“I just like the competition part of it. You get to see kids from the Dallas area and things like that, and those are playoff teams (from last year).”