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Rice 7-on-7 football team goes to state
Pictured is the 2008 Rice 7-on-7 Football Club team who advanced to State 7-on-7 Tournament competition at College Station. Kneeling from left, Ryan Moore, Kevin Ellis, Myles Dumont, Ziggy Foster, Matt Sosa, Nick Duarte, Terrance Shorter an Cody Lantelme. Standing, Assistant Coach Taylor Cook, Patrick Dota, Wesley Arrison, Damian Stevens, Marquis Toliver, Mario Hull, Dewey Pettus, Carlos Sosa and Coach Charlie Sosa. Not pictured is Tanner Williams, J.J. Reggins, Patrick Dota, Sean Torres, Terris Shorter and Mark Sosa.
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By Jacob Truchard, Sports Writer
The Rice 7-on-7 Football Club team earned the opportunity to compete in State 7-on-7 tournament action at College Station Thursday and Friday, July 11-12, advancing to the Elite 8 game.
This is the second year that a Rice team has been competing in State 7-on-7 competition and the first time they competed in the state tournament. Out of 128 teams starting off the season in State 7-on-7 competition, Rice finished the summer in the top eight.
“This was a fun experience,” said Rice 7-on-7 Football Club team head coach Charlie Sosa. “The kids played hard the whole time ahead or behind.”
Prior to the tournament, the Rice team won more than 20 games in June in league play. They defeated Cuero, Palacios and Latvia in a state qualifying tournament in pool play, but lost in the finals to 3A Giddings. Both Rice and Giddings earned the opportunity to advance to play at College Station.
In state tournament pool play, the Rice team lost the opening game to 1A Normangee on the last play of the game 40-35.
In the second game of pool play, Rice lost to 3A Carthage 27-19 and were defeated by 2A Melissa 40-13.
Once pool play was finished, the 32 teams in the tournament were seeded into a single elimination bracket and drew pool winner, 2A Hitchcock in the first round.
After recording an interception in the first play of the game, Rice went on to defeat the Hitchcock team 24-20, finishing Thursday’s competition.
Rice competed in their first game on Friday against 3A Lovejoy, to open the Sweet 16 round of the tournament.
The Rice 7-on-7 team took control offensively, outscoring their opponent 14-0. Lovejoy was able to tie the game and take it into overtime.
However, Mario Hull recorded an interception on a fourth down play to help Rice take the win.
In Elite 8 competition, Rice lost a close one to 3A Navasota.
Rice took a 13-0 lead, but Navasota fought back to take a 14-13 lead at halftime.
Both teams fought hard offensively, but Navasota came up with a 34-28 win.
Navasota went on to lose the championship game to 2A Crane.
Competing on the offensive side of the ball in tournament play for the Rice team was Hull, Marquis Toliver, Ziggy Foster, Matt Sosa, Nick Duarte, Ryan Moore and Myles Dumont. Leading the Raiders defensively were Carlos Sosa, Kevin Ellis, Damien Stevens, Dewey Pettus, Tanner Williams, J.J. Reggins and Cody Lantelme. Other Rice team members were Patrick Dota, Sean Torres, Terris Shorter, Terance Shorter, Wesley Arrison and Mark Sosa.
Coach Sosa added that he was proud of the Rice team’s overall performance and how they accomplished a lot during tournament competition.
“We just got beat in the end by a team that was little more athletic,” Charlie Sosa said.
Assisting in coaching the team during the earlier part of the summer season was Taylor Cook.
The format of State 7-on-7 football games consists of a field length of 45 yards and a width of 160-feet.
The field is marked at 15-yard intervals with cones and three first downs without a penalty result in a touchdown.
At first down, an incomplete pass and offensive penalty results in the next down being a third down. At second down, an incomplete pass and offensive penalty results in the ball going over to the defensive team.
Special rules include that there is no blocking, the receiver or ball carrier is legally down when touched with one or both hands and excessive force (such as shoving or pushing) results in a penalty of an automatic first down and five yards.
Some other rules include that fumbles are considered dead balls at the spot with the last team retaining possession, each team has 25 seconds to snap the ball once it has been marked ready for play, delay of game penalty will be loss of down plus five yards and the quarterback is allowed four seconds to throw the ball.
According to the State 7-on-7 website, The Texas State 7-on-7 Association is a private organization which is not associated with either the UIL or the THSCA that promotes the game of football through 7-on-7 competitions. The governing body for the association consists of selected coaches throughout the state of Texas. The association is governed through its constitution and by-laws and holds regularly scheduled meetings every January and July in addition to those as directed by the president of the board.
The University Inter-scholastic League approved 7-on-7 competition in 1995 and in 1998 several Texas High School coaches united to form a 7-on-7 board of directors to govern participation of the 7-on-7 game across the state.
Coach Charlie Sosa said he along with the entire Raider 7-on-7 Football Club would like to thank the community for the donations and for the support from the hamburger supper fundraiser that helped raise money to travel and compete in the event.
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