SANDUSKY — Working without pads, amid the hum of a Spotify playlist, this was far from a high school football game.
Even so, Sandusky quarterback Jack Betts saw the value of the 7-on-7 scrimmage.
“There’s still physicality, even though we don’t have (tackling or our full equipment),” Betts said. “There’s still physicality running routes, and guys are grabbing onto you. But it’s stuff you’re just going to encounter in a game.”
With the first game of the MHSAA season less than a month away, preparation for such encounters resumed Thursday, July 30, with the Big Thumb Showdown at Sandusky High School.
Eight teams participated, including five from the Blue Water Area (Sandusky, Croswell-Lexington, Imlay City, Yale and Cardinal Mooney). Organized by Sandusky coach Ryan Palmer and his staff, the Showdown featured a 7-on-7 tournament along with individual events for lineman.
“The environments it puts you in (are beneficial),” Cardinal Mooney coach Dan Kilian said. “We had situations where there were two minutes left in the 7-on-7, and we needed a score to go ahead, or we needed a stop to keep the win. It gives kids those opportunities to feel that pressure without it being a game-time situation.”
Each team played four, 20-minute scrimmages prior to the single-elimination tournament. Ubly ultimately defeated Cros-Lex in the championship game.
“It’s not full-contact, but you do get to work on scheme,” Yale coach Garrett Grundman said. “If you’ve got a team that’s super run-heavy, it’s going to benefit them to do 7-on-7s because they’re going to be able to get some looks in different coverages against different teams. And, also, work on what the quarterback, tailback and receivers are good with when it comes to timing.”
Since the scrimmages exclude linemen, practically every snap is a pass play. However, that means quarterbacks must fit the ball into tighter-than-usual windows.
“In the true game of football, the interior linebackers are going to be run-first (with their assignments),” Grundman said. “But in 7-on-7, they’re dropping back into coverage. So, you have to be extra sharp on offense to throw into your passing lanes, to get on to timing and throw receivers open.”
Sandusky’s top wideouts, Gavin Phillips and Nathaniel Tovar, made their share of catches.
“It’s just good to come out here and work on our spacing because it’s not tackle, so it’s a little bit slower,” Phillips said. “It helps us work on the fundamentals a little bit more and gets everyone more reps passing than it would be in a (regular-season) game.
Said Tovar, “We’ve also got a bunch of linemen coming out here and competing as well, so it’s the whole team. It’s not just one (position) group.”
Linemen got a chance to showcase their strength in Thursday’s aptly named “Big Man Challenge.” Perhaps the most intriguing event was the tire flip, where athletes individually pushed a tractor tire 20 yards.
“I thought Sandusky did a fantastic job adding the lineman challenge,” Kilian said. “Linemen always get overlooked. When you go to a 7-on-7, they might get to play a little bit of defense. But for them to have all that time bonding as a group — with the tire flips and the sled push — and just being around other lineman, you could feel the energy coming from that side of the field.”
Contact Brenden Welper at bwelper@usatodayco.com. Follow him on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, @BrendenWelper.
This article originally appeared on Port Huron Times Herald: As season nears, Blue Water Area football teams ‘feel the energy’ in 7-on-7 scrimmages
Reporting by Brenden Welper, Port Huron Times Herald / Port Huron Times Herald
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
By Brenden Welper, Port Huron Times Herald | USA TODAY Network
