Football: TWHS hosts 7-on-7 State Qualifying Tournament

THE WOODLANDS, Texas – The Woodlands Highlanders and Oak Ridge War Eagles both participated in the 16-team Woodlands 7-on-7 state qualifying tournament last week at The Woodlands High School.

The Highlanders, who had already qualified for the 7-on-7 state tournament at the Cy Creek tournament a couple weeks ago, went 2-1 in pool play, but were not allowed to advance to the quarterfinals because they had already qualified for state.

The Woodlands, which was playing with a lot of junior varsity players, opened the event by losing to Klein Forest 57-51. It then beat Willis 41-21 and Hightower 52-19. The Highlanders are coached by 2009 quarterback Trent Eckel.

High School coaches are not allowed to coach summer 7-on-7 teams due to University Interscholastic League rules.

“We already qualified (for the state tournament), so some of the guys got some rest, and others had track meets, so we had some guys step up,” Eckel told media members after the tournament. “We brought up a lot of JV kids to play that hadn’t played before, and everyone played well for us.”

Oak Ridge was also participating in its first state-qualifying tournament of the summer.

The War Eagles defeated Cy Creek 24-18 in their opener, then beat Klein Collins 34-26. But Klein defeated Oak Ridge 48-35 to keep the War Eagles from advancing out of pool play and earning a shot to qualify for the 7-on-7 state tournament.

Oak Ridge will have another shot to qualify for state when it participates in the Lufkin 7-on-7 state- qualifying tournament on Saturday.

“Overall we had a good day, we just couldn’t stop Klein in the last game,” Oak Ridge 7-on-7 coach Rob Little told media members after the event. “The defense just got a little tired, and a little run-down, but overall we had a good day. We’re all ready for Lufkin next weekend.”

The College Park Cavaliers are participating in a 7-on-7 league with Oak Ridge, Tomball, Magnolia, Klein, Klein Oak, Klein Collins and Klein Forest on Thursday nights.

On Thursday, College Park will play Klein Collins, Tomball and Klein Forest at College Park High School. The league is not part of the state-qualifying tournaments.

The 64-team 7-on-7 state tournament will be held on July 9-10 at Texas A&M University in College Station.