Highlanders win own 7-on-7 tourney

THE WOODLANDS, Texas - The Woodlands, College Park and Oak Ridge 7 on 7 varsity football teams competed in the TWHS 7 on 7 State Qualifier on Saturday in an effort to qualify for the Texas 7 on 7 State Championships being held in Round Rock on July 12 and 13. The top two teams in every qualifier earn an automatic bid to Round Rock but can continue competing in the qualifiers.

Oak Ridge started off the day well with an upset of Dekaney, 33-25 and then had a bye leaving Willis standing between them and the afternoon finals. It wasn't to be for Oak Ridge as Willis came up big, 28-15.

College Park also started off the day in grand fashion taking down eventual finalist Westfield, 62-33. To advance to the afternoon finals, CP had to win one of two games but came up short in losing to Klein Oak (19-18) and Cinco Ranch (42-34).

With Oak Ridge and College Park out, The Woodlands was left to represent the area and they did not disappoint. Game One against Tomball was a Dylan Larsen aerial smorgasbord as the incoming senior QB threw touchdowns all over the field in a 57-22 rout of the Cougars.

With the win, The Woodlands already advanced to the afternoon finals so game two was essentially a non-count game against C -Fair. With several players still inside the school taking the ACT, Coach's Cusimano and Jordan emptied the bench so every Highlander could gain valuable experience. The Woodlands played gallantly against the Bobcats but came up short 41-33. Cy Fair had already earned a berth to the State Finals the previous week.

Moving on to the semifinals, The Woodlands was matched up against Montgomery. This was a close game all the way and midway through the second half, a Larsen to Robert LeGoubin strike put The Woodlands up 34-28. Another quick Montgomery score and it was tied up at 34 with 8:34 remaining in the game. Larsen, true to form hit Davis Harper to put the Highlanders up 40-34. Add the conversion pass to Chris Bell and it was 41-34 with just over six minutes left on the clock.

The Woodlands, needing a stop got one on a Tyler Murphy circus catch for an interception with 5:55 remaining. Larsen was money again as the Highlanders capitalized on the T/O with another Larsen/LeGoubin connection.

The Woodlands made another stop and the game ended with The Woodlands advancing to the championship game and thus earning a trip to Round Rock. A victory over Westfield in the final would just be icing on the cake for the Highlanders. Westfield advanced to the final game with a 45-26 "W" over Willis.

In a low scoring affair for a 7 on 7 game, the Highlanders were down 13-7 at the half before the afternoon alarm clock went off and the offense decided to kick it in gear to match their defensive brethren led by Phoenix Jones and T.C. Schneider. Late in the second half, Larsen found Bayley Novak for a scoring strike and with the successful extra point The Woodlands was up 14-13 with eight minutes remaining.

Needing another stop, the Highlanders Keith Selden came up big with an INT. Not to be outdone, Westfield returned the favor and the momentum shifted over to Westfield. Lo and behold, Ricardo Trevino came up with the biggest play of the day with a pic-6 and The Woodlands went up 20-13.

Westfield had little time to try and even things up but came through with a TD making it 20-19 with only an extra point try to even the game. On the extra point, Westfield was successful but had eight players on the field. The referees disallowed the point and awarded The Woodlands the win.

Hold on! With some discussion on the field, the referees reversed the ruling and the game was now going into overtime.

In overtime, Westfield had the ball first and on their third play, Trevino came up with another huge INT. Westfield then returned the favor with an INT of their own.

The Woodlands started first in the second OT. Larsen hit Patrick Carr for 10 yards and then threw for a TD to Zach Stamm to make it 26-20. Another successful Larsen/Bell connection ensued and with the two-point conversion the Highlanders were up 28-20.

Westfield scored quickly and had to go for two to extend the game. The Mustangs QB aired the ball out to the back left corner of the end zone which was corralled by the receiver but it was ruled he came down out of bounds and The Woodlands was crowned champions along with their baseball comrades on a huge day for The Woodlands athletics.

Kudo's to the Westfield alternating QB's William Dedon and Cortland Greenwood who played outstanding all tournament long.

The Woodlands DB coach, Emory Bartolazzi was in attendance and offered up the following sentiments: "I'm a big fan of 7 on 7 football for two main reasons: Any time you can compete together as a team you have a chance to develop a bond that makes you that much more inseparable. When you can practice your schemes together you have a chance to get better and get closer at the same time.

“I was particularly impressed with Jeremy Davis who made several acrobatic catches in the end zone early in the day. Ricardo Trevino had at least three INT's including two for TD's. I don't think I saw QB Dylan Larsen make one bad decision all day. Chris Bell provided a much needed deep threat. Patrick Carr made several would-be five yard gains turn into 15-20 yard gains. Tyler Murphy who, like Bayley Novak came out after taking the ACT this morning made two huge plays including an INT at the end of the semi-final game and defended the pass on the two point conversion to seal the championship game."

Oak Ridge and College Park have more opportunities to make it to Round Rock with qualifiers coming up on June 15 at Cy Falls, June 22 at Cinco Ranch and The Sam Brown at CES on the 29th. The Woodlands will also be competing in all three.

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