With the Texas State seven-on-seven tournament going on next week, most high school football fans around Texas have their eyes on the ball, watching the top receivers and quarterbacks from each school.
This past Saturday at Tiger Stadium, it was about the guys away from the ball in Rockdale’s first ever Lineman Challenge.
The event was put together by RHS defensive and recruiting coordinator Ryan Montalvo, who said the challenge was something they always did in the summer when he was coaching in the Houston area.
“We’ve always done them in Houston, where I was at before,” Montalvo said. “And it’s always fun to do them because the skinny kids get to play seven-on-seven all summer. It’s fun for those linemen to get out there and compete a little bit.”
The event featured Atlas Stones from the World’s Strongest Man competition, but with 100, 110 and 120 pound dumbells.
“It was a bunch of random events,” he said. “Carrying dumbells around, obstacle course kind of stuff. Basically moving around a bunch of heavy things, but it was good opportunity for our linemen to be competitive.”
Montalvo also said participating athletes were enthusiastic at the end of the afternoon.
“They had a blast,” he said. “Kids were already asking about doing it again next year, even the kids from the other teams were asking about it.”
Rockdale, with a team that featured athletes like A.J. Sandoval, Chad David, Gavin Aguilar, Mason Willard and Riley Spears, placed third out of six teams. Giddings won and their neighbor La Grange finished in second. Behind Rockdale in fourth was Academy and Somerville placed fifth. Cameron placed sixth by default due to being expected to show up, but not doing so. Montalvo also said that 12 schools were on board for the challenge the Monday before. Six of those schools backed out since some kids couldn’t make it.
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