High school football season is just over a month away, but three Upper Valley teams will be journeying to College Station this weekend to participate in the 2019 Texas 7-on-7 State Championships from Friday to Saturday at Veterans Park and Athletic Complex.
Mission High, Mission Veterans and Sharyland Pioneer each punched their ticket to the tourney by winning a state qualifying tournament in early June to put themselves among the top 64 teams in Texas. Mission High and Sharyland Pioneer claimed their spots in the state tourney by winning the Rio Grande SQT on June 1. Mission Veterans punched its ticket two weeks later by winning the Calallen SQT on June 15.
The Eagles, Patriots and Diamondbacks will begin pool play at 1 p.m. Friday with four teams in each pool. All teams will play three games on Friday, with one game guaranteed on Saturday. The top two teams from each pool will advance to the championship round Saturday morning, while the remaining two teams from each pool will advance to the consolation bracket, also on Saturday morning.
Mission High was placed in Pool H along with Round Rock, Cy Falls and DeSoto. The Eagles, quarterbacked by sophomore Jeremy Duran, impressed last season in the RGV and hope to do so again in College Station. Duran has weapons in backs Andrew Maldonado and Tito Moronta and pass-catchers like big-man Rey Garcia and wide outs Steve Villarreal to get the ball to and watch go to work. The Eagles will play their Pool H games on Field 13 B, starting at 1 p.m. Friday against Round Rock, 3 p.m. against Cy Falls and 5 p.m. against DeSoto.
Sharyland Pioneer will be in Pool O with Temple, Cy Woods and Hebron. The Diamondbacks are sending an experienced group to College Station led by junior quarterback Eddie Lee Marburger. He’ll be throwing to big-time athletes like Lavar Lindo and Luke Padilla out wide and running back Tristan Castillo. On the other side of the ball, safeties Chismere Mallard, Ryan Bulthuis and linebacker Kyle Sullivan lead the attack. The Diamondbacks will play all three of their pool play games on Field 12 B, starting at 2 p.m. Friday against Temple, 4 p.m. against Cy Woods, and 6 p.m. against Hebron.
Mission Veterans will play in Pool M against the likes of Austin Westlake, Foster and Frisco. Any time receivers AJ Gonzaque and Mikey Garcia take the field, the Patriots excite. Sophomore quarterback Ricky Reyna will be relied upon to get his playmakers the ball, but he’s shown he’s completely capable of getting the job done for the Patriots during 7-on-7 league play and SQTs. The Patriots’ quick-to-the-ball defense has flourished in the 7-on-7 format. The Patriots will play their three pool play games on Field 9 B, starting at 2 p.m. Friday against Austin Westlake, 4 p.m. against Foster, and 6 p.m. against Frisco.
Follow RGVSports.com on Facebook and Twitter for updates from the state 7-on-7 tournament.