A year after the inaugural Southeastern 7-on-7 Championship, The Daily Citizen’s annual high school football tournament is just days away from its second edition, and organizers are optimistic that what will be a bigger event this time around will be even better, too.
With the field expanded from 20 to 32 teams this year — schools from seven states will be represented — there will be even more of the passing-driven, skills-centered games to catch on Saturday and Sunday. In addition, while last year’s tournament featured a day of pool play and only four teams in the second day’s semifinals, this year every team will play both days, either in the championship or consolation bracket.
Along with the city of Dalton, the Dalton Parks and Recreation Department, and the Dalton Area Convention and Visitors Bureau, the newspaper will host teams from Arkansas, Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, South Carolina and Tennessee as they compete for the title. Included in the field will be schools that have hoisted state championship trophies — some of them many times over — and hotly recruited players who will soon be stars on Saturday afternoons.
This year’s Southeastern 7-on-7 Championship competitors are:
• Pool A — Callaway (Hogansville, Ga.), Coahulla Creek, Fletcher (Neptune Beach, Fla.), Florence (Ala.), LaFayette, Martin Luther King Jr. “B” (Lithonia), Northwest Whitfield and Riverdale (Murfreesboro, Tenn.).
• Pool B — Bob Jones (Madison, Ala.), Bowling Green (Ky.), Cedar Grove (Ellenwood), Dalton, Harding (Searcy, Ark.), Luverne (Ala.), McCallie (Chattanooga), Pace (Atlanta).
• Pool C — Auburn (Ala.), Bob Jones “B” (Madison, Ala.), Carter-sville, Griffin, Karns (Knoxville, Tenn.), Martin Luther King Jr. (Lithonia), Murray (Ky.) and Southeast Whitfield.
• Pool D — Baylor (Chatt-anooga), Christian Heritage, George Washington Carver (Montgomery, Ala.), North Augusta (S.C.), North Jackson (Stevenson, Ala.), Pierce County, Ringgold and Stone Mountain.
Eight teams from the 2011 tournament are back for this year’s event, including champion Bob Jones and semifinalist Martin Luther King Jr., with both of those schools also bringing “B” squads to compete.
Games will be played at the DPRD’s James Brown Park, Broaddus-Durkan Soccer Complex and Mack Gaston Community Center, with pool play starting at noon Saturday and continuing until late into the night. Tournament action will resume with bracket play starting early Sunday morning after a church service directed by Fellowship of Christian Athletes and a ceremony to honor the pool play champions.
In addition, a skills combine and lineman camp, sponsored by AstroTurf and put on by Elite Athletic Events of Nashville, Tenn., free of charge to all participants, will be part of the weekend’s activities. On Saturday, the combine and camp will be held at the Broaddus-Durkan Soccer Complex, with the combine beginning at 10 a.m. and the camp running from noon to 4 p.m. On Sunday, the combine will shift to James Brown Park and only include athletes from teams participating in the tournament.
However, local varsity high school football players who are interested in participating in either the combine or camp but are not a member of a team in the Southeastern are still welcome to take part on Saturday. After 4 p.m., the combine will be open to those athletes for tests in the 40-yard dash, pro-agility test, cone drill and broad jump. Non-Southeastern players will take part in the lineman camp alongside those whose skill position colleagues are playing in the tournament.
On Friday, a special Community Day will allow kids and fans to interact with the teams and take part in fun activities at James Brown Park.
To learn more about the tournament and its accompanying activities, please see future editions of The Daily Citizen and visit southeastern7on7.com, where a 63-page tournament preview guide is available to download for free.
Sports
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The Southeastern 7-on-7 Championship is set for Saturday and Sunday in Dalton.
Discussion
July 10, 2012
Southeastern 7-on-7: Pools and schedule set for tournament
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Middleton area’s lone selection for Georgia
Northwest Whitfield High School graduate Brady Middleton, who will play for Berry College, was an All-Region 7-4A selection and The Daily Citizen’s All-Area Baseball Player of the Year this season. Middleton will play for the Peach State in today’s Stump on Sports Tennessee-Georgia All-Star Baseball Classic.(Misty Watson/The Daily Citizen)
In terms of representation, area high schools had a dominating presence in Saturday’s Stump on Sports Tennessee-Georgia All-Star Boys Soccer Classic.
Continued ...
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