On Saturday, April 25, the Rockdale seven-on-seven team went 2-2-1 at a tournament in Lexington where they faced La Grange and Giddings twice and the host Lexington once.
“We started off really hot,” said head coach Eric Robinson. “But during the second and third games we kind of hit a wall.
“But halfway though the fourth game we really turned it around and the defense stepped up. We were really jelling at the end.”
They opened the tournament with a 4-2 win over La Grange and lost their next game 4-3 to Giddings.
In their third game, they tied host Lexington 1-1 and lost to La Grange 3-2 in the next one. Rockdale’s group ended the day on a high note with a 4-0 win over 4-0.
“All in all, I thought everybody looked great,” Robinson said. “Ross Loth had five or six catches, Levi Baggerly had three or four, J.J. Moreno had two really good ones and Brandon Hernandez who played center most of the game had one.”
Unlike actual football, sevens is a faster paced game that is set up primarily for quarterbacks and wide receivers. In seven-on-seven. The quarterback has less than four seconds to throw a pass, the field is 45 yards long and instead having four downs to get the ball ten yards, the offensive team has three downs to get the ball 15 yards and on the final 15 they get four downs.
“It’s a really fast-paced style of football,” He said. “Especially as a dad of a quarterback, I love seeing that my son Jace is learning to work really quickly because in seven-on-seven you don’t have time to think about anything.”
Robinson also said that alot of the guys who played that weekend played in seven-on-seven last year and that the difference between then and now was evident.
“A lot of these guys played in the summer on our team last year,” Robinson said. “When you compare this team to last year you can clearly see the maturation.”
Cam’Ron Valdez and Kesean Raven, who led the Tigers in rushing last season, didn’t even play since they are still preparing for the UIL state track meet.
“Another thing that was really impressive was how well we played while missing all those key contributors,” Robinson said. “It’s going to be tough stopping us when they get to play.”
Rockdale was scheduled to play a tournament this past Tuesday at Giddings High School but it was canceled an hour before their six o’clock game time due to heavy rainfall in the area. Although there is a chance they can pick up another tournament in the upcoming week, the Rock-dale boys are scheduled to play next at the qualifier tournament on Saturday, May 18, at Gatesville High School, and Saturday, May 25, in Brock.
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