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July 11, 2009

Titans, Indians revise 7-on-7 approach

By Cody Pastorella

In the past many local high school football programs used 7-on-7 during the summer as a way of keeping or getting quarterbacks and receivers in tuned. This summer has been a little different for at least a couple of the Mid-and-South County schools.

For instance, Memorial usually makes a strong effort to qualify for state in 7-on-7. And they usually do rather well. But new head coach Kenny Harrison said his goals this summer were for his players to get bigger and stronger.

"We did one qualifier, the day after our spring game, and we were missing some guys and did not advance," Harrison explained. "And that was fine because I knew I didn't want to put as much emphasis on 7-on-7 this year. Our guys are still participating in a local league, but I think that's all we really need. My focus this summer was and is for our guys to concentrate on getting stronger. We want to be more physical across the board."

Harrison went on to say that none of his skill players are disappointed with this change.

"All the guys have seemed to really buy into what we are trying to do before school starts," he said. "I've seen more participation this summer than we have had in the last couple years."

Harrison added that he still feels 7-on-7 is important and that his skill position players are still participating weekly.

"They are still getting plenty of out of it. It's just our focus and emphasis is on other things this summer," he said.

Like Port Arthur, Port Neches-Groves High School has made some alterations to its summer training. New Indians head coach Brandon Faircloth has introduced a more competitive brand of 7-on-7 to his Indians.

With Faircloth's spread-attacking background, his teams have been very productive with 7-on-7 in years past, which means this is likely the most organized PN-G has been with 7-on-7.

Faircloth said his Indians did not participate in any state qualifying tournaments but have been very involved with the local league. He said this was just a starter year, adding that he only wanted his players to become more acclamated with his system and with each other.

"We run the same offense and defense with our 7-on-7 as we will in regular competition," Faircloth said. "We have definitely improved. The goal was to stay active this summer and to continue getting better with our timing. The kids have improved and they have done a great job this summer."

Fairlcoth also said that his team was very excited to get involved in 7-on-7 and that the success of this year may inspire the program to take a crack at some qualifying tournaments next summer.

Meanwhile, Nederland has made no changes to its summer routines.

Head coach Larry Neumann said it’s business as usual in Bulldog Country.

"A lot of guys play summer baseball and that is good and important to them. Most of our team just hits the weights. They come here or they go to Oxygen or wherever. Its basically what we've been doing since I got here," Neumann explained. "All we really ask of them is to stay in shape, try to get better and, most importantly, to stay safe.

He added that Nederland has participated in 7-on-7 in previous years and some of his players may be participating this year.

"But they are just doing it for fun and to keep in shape," Neumann said. "It has never been something we forced upon them."

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