7 on 7 Tournament Features Great Teams, Players
On Saturday June 17, 2006, Heritage High School hosted a 7 on 7 tournament with some of the area's best football programs. The event took place on the practice fields behind Heritage's football stadium. From 8am until 4pm, the teams battled it out for the championship in the grueling heat. While the action was spread out over 4 fields, the event featured some outstanding talent and coaching.
The host team, Heritage, fielded two teams with one being full of juniors and one with seniors. Loudoun County high school also had a team in the event and rounded out the participants from the Loudoun teams. Stone Bridge, Loudoun Valley, and Dominion were all scheduled to compete but had problems fielding teams because of graduation and conflicting schedules. Westfield sent up one team, as did Centreville from the Fairfax area. Handley high school made the drive from Winchester and Battlefield High School also attended.
The action was intense at times despite each player only wearing a helmet and their jersey. Contact was not allowed, but that didn't keep some collisions from happening on passing routes. Each team received 4 downs to make a first down. Each game was played from the 50 yard line in and each team had to score once they penetrated the 20 yard line. There were no extra point attempts, but each team received 1 point if they converted what would emulate a two point attempt in a real game. Each half was timed and offenses ran multiple plays. The 7 on 7 passing tournament is a common thing for football programs to participate in because of the opportunity to create cohesion between quarterbacks and skill players on offense, and the secondary with the linebackers on defense. Handley head football coach Tony Rayburn brought his guys down from Winchester to see how they stacked up against the athletes from Loudoun and Fairfax.
“We usually just do one 7 on 7 passing tournament, but this year the guys wanted to do two, so we decided to come down to Heritage to see how we could compete against the teams here,” Rayburn said.
While 7 on 7 tournaments don't necessarily tell a coach what they can expect in the fall, they do provide some insight into what type of team you might have.
“With tournament like this, you don't get the full view of what teams will try to do to stop you or beat you in the passing game, but it does give you a glimpse into what type of athletes you have on your team. We do it because it can help you build chemistry with your skill players and hopefully build confidence,” Rayburn noted.
Heritage head football coach Wes Driskill oversaw the action on Saturday, but wasn't able to coach because of a rule that doesn't allow a head coach to be involved in the coaching at events that are called tournaments instead of being called camps. That is something Driskill plans on changing next year.
“I was only allowed to watch because of how we phrased the event this year, but next year we will organize it so the head coaches can participate in the coaching end of things, Driskill said while watching his seniors battle Centreville.
Driskill was happy with the attendance from area teams and expects it to be even bigger next year.
“I like the fact that we had some outstanding talent here and great football programs in the first year of the event. It should only grow over the next few years and we expect it to get better and better in time.”
Some outstanding college prospects participated in the 7 on 7 passing tournament on Saturday, and football fans should be on the lookout for many of these players to emerge as stars. Highlighting the group was Westfield's junior quarterback Mike Glennon. Glennon has grown 3 inches in the last year and stands 6 foot 5 in the pocket. He showed a tremendous arm and great accuracy on Saturday and should become a dominate player in the next two seasons for the Bulldogs.
Handley also brought down a great player at quarterback. J.J. Dorsey, who had a great sophomore season for the Judges, was in attendance and performed very well. Although, Dorsey's game really includes much more of a running threat than what can be shown with the 7 on 7 tournament structure.
The Centreville Wildcats look to be loaded with outstanding skill position talent and they gave every team trouble with their suffocating defense. The Wildcats also have a potent offensive attack, and should be a force in the Concorde district this fall.
Heritage wide receiver and cornerback Bobby Edmonds made some tremendous plays on offense and defense on Saturday as well. Edmonds is a returning All Gameday cornerback and looks to be ready to provide Pride quarterbacks with a big play threat at Wide Receiver this fall. At one point in a game with Centreville, Wildcat head coach Mike Skinner turned to his defensive coaches and said, “I'm not sure if we can cover that guy,” referring to Edmonds, who was scorching the Wildcat defense with acrobatic catches.
Overall, the event was a big success, and gave both the players and coaches a great opportunity to work out some kinks, and build team chemistry. Loudoun County's secondary coach Cary Vipond saw many things for his guys to work on.
“After today, I don't think we can do anything but walk away with some positives and negatives, and then go to work on getting better. It was great to play against some of the best talent in our area,” Vipond said.
Look for next year's 7 on 7 tournament to continue to grow. All football fans should also keep an eye out for the upcoming August edition of Gameday Magazine, which will feature in-depth previews of every football team in the area.
