By ROY HESS, Staff Writer
While the news doesn’t come as much of a surprise, area coaches say it is still regrettable that Texas’ 7-on-7 competition for 2020 has been canceled.
Due to the dangers of the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott last week canceled what remains of the 2019-20 school year. The UIL and TAPPS responded by canceling the remaining games, tournaments and meets of all spring sports.
Students have been out of school since Spring Break in mid-March, and now it looks as though the soonest they possibly might return to school would be in August when the 2020-21 school year is scheduled to start. And even then, that time frame appears to be in question.
The Texas State 7-on-7 Organization officially canceled its statewide competition and state qualifying tournaments Monday.
Normally, the 7-on-7 season for high school football players runs from April or May to June, with qualifying events leading up to a state tournament in late June.
The 7-on-7 organization is not affiliated with the UIL, and high school coaches are not permitted to coach the 7-on-7 teams. Still, most importantly, 7-on-7 competition primarily allows teams to develop and fine-tune their passing games. While high school coaches are not allowed to have direct involvement with the teams, they usually follow their teams’ progress closely during the 7-on-7 season.
Many of the coaches say it’s regrettable there will be no 7-on-7 competition, even though the cancellation announcement pretty much was expected.
“I knew this would happen,” Rio Hondo coach Rocky James said. “The athletes have a lot more to worry about right now with what’s going on with this virus.
“We as coaches are just hoping they stay safe and try to stay in shape for the start of football, whenever that may be,” James added.
There’s disappointment because over the years, 7-on-7 has become a much-anticipated part of Texas high school football.
“The cancellation, while necessary, saddens me as our boys were eagerly looking forward to it,” said David Cantu, the coach at Brownsville Veterans Memorial. “We’ll have numerous new starters at our offensive and defensive skill positions because of graduation, and these (returning) young men were excited with the thought of stepping on the field (for 7-on-7) and getting quality reps against good opponents.”
The 7-on-7 season is designed to give athletes an opportunity to develop at the skill positions.
“Well, since we are going to have a new quarterback for the first time in three years, it would’ve been nice to have him get some reps this spring and summer in 7-on-7,” Brownsville Hanna coach Mark Guess said. “However, if we get to work with them like last year during the summer workouts, I think we will be OK.”
Raymondville coach Frank Cantu said the cancellation now means there’s no possibility for 7-on-7 to be modified to make it safer to participate.
“It’s so unfortunate that athletes will not have a chance to play and compete, especially the upcoming seniors,” he said. “It’s one of those things that we really don’t have control over. It would have been nice to modify the 7-on-7 competition in a safer way that would allow the players to compete safely. That is no longer an option with the decision that was made.
“We are in uncharted territory, and our players unfortunately will have to sit out and wait, and see where we go from here,” he added. “We continue to encourage our athletes to work out and remain ready to compete whenever we are given the green light.
“As for now, all we can do is follow the safety guidelines and pray we find a way to get back (to playing football) in a safe way.”
Brownsville Pace coach Danny Pardo agreed with his Raymondville counterpart that safety is the most important concern.
“Well, I think it is unfortunate that players are not getting the opportunity to get better (by participating in 7-on-7), but the most important thing is their health,” Pardo said. “I think that if we don’t take every precaution now, it may affect us getting started (with football) next school year.”
There are some teams, such as Los Fresnos, not affected by the 7-on-7 announcement.
“It will not affect us at all because we are a flex-bone team,” Falcons coach Patrick Brown said.