Varsity Football Competes in 7v7 Tournament

Vikram Joshi, Horizon Editor in Chief| May 26, 2019

 

  • Nate Anderson ’21 catches the ball and gets ready to make a move on the defender.

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  • Robbie Jeng ’21 makes a leaping catch in front of the defender.

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  • RJ Martinez ’21 throws a pass to Nate Anderson ’21.

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  • Tomas Henry ’21 catches the pass and turns into the end zone.

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  • Drew Goodall ’21 gets an interception and tries to get past the receiver.

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  • Tomas Henry ’21 races upfield after a catch as defenders chase him.

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  • Wade Youngblood ’21 downs a receiver immediately after the catch.

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  • Tomas Henry ’21 catches a pass from RJ Martinez ’21 as they practice between games.

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  • Wade Youngblood ’21 chases down a receiver.

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On Saturday, May 25, Westwood High School hosted a 7v7 football tournament. After initially struggling, the Warriors found a rhythm but just fell short of qualifying for the state tournament.

In their first game against Lake Travis High School, the opposing team’s offense came out strong and the Warriors couldn’t stop them in the first half. On the other side of the ball, the Warriors’ offense also had some difficulties as it got stopped several times. In the second half, the offense picked up but it was too late as they fell 41-20 to Lake Travis.

After that tough loss, the Warriors bounced back from the beginning against Rouse High School. On the first drive of the game, Wade Youngblood ‘21 made a crucial tackle on third down to end Rouse’s possession. The offense responded to the defensive success with a few scores and the Warriors went into halftime up 20-7. In the second half, they continued to grow their lead and keep a stout defense as they finished the game 41-14.

“We just regrouped [after the Lake Travis game],” RJ Martinez ‘21 said. “Towards the end of that game we were executing well so we just took momentum from the Lake Travis game and used it throughout the rest of the tournament.”

In their next game against Austin High School, the Warriors would move on only if they won. They started strong with a touchdown catch by Robbie Jeng ‘19 to go up 7-0 but Austin High School quickly responded to make it 8-7. The game continued to go back-and-forth the whole way with nine lead changes but in the end, the Warriors were able to go up 32-28 and then get stops on defense to seal the victory.

With that win, the Warriors would face Hutto High School next. This game determined who would move on to the state tournament. In it, both defenses came out strong. The Warriors got three interceptions in the first half to hold Hutto to seven points but were only able to score six points of their own. In the second half, Hutto scored to go up 13-6 but a touchdown catch by Jeng cut their lead to 13-12. Hutto struck again to widen the margin to 20-12 but as time expired, the Warriors scored on a pass from Martinez to Jace Lyne ‘20. However, the pass attempt on the two-point conversion was intercepted and the Warriors lost 20-18.

The Warriors will make some adjustments for future 7v7 tournaments in order to improve and potentially go to the state tournament.

“We need to learn how to communicate more on defense and offense and be able to use that momentum to further our victory and extend our leads,” Jaleel Davis ‘20 said. “We need to come out with that killer instinct.”

Moving forward, the Warriors will have another chance to qualify for the state tournament on Saturday, June 8th in a 7v7 tournament at Westlake.