Since the end of baseball season in early June, the Texas high school sports calendar has grown quiet as schools are on summer break and students enjoy time away from campus.
For a few athletes in the Texas Panhandle, however, the summer has been busy with 7-on-7 football as the state tournament looms.
Three squads from the Amarillo area will compete in College Station from June 26-28 amongst 128 teams from across the Lone Star State in the 2025 7-on-7 State Tournament.
The event is divided into three divisions with the biggest schools slotting into Division I and the smallest competing in Division III. The Texas Panhandle will be represented in each division as Palo Duro qualified in Division I, Dumas in Division II and Sunray in Division III.
Divisions II and III will compete June 26-27 while Division I is set to play June 27-28. The tournament takes place at Veterans Park and Athletic Complex beginning with pool play. The top two teams in each pool following the first day of the event will compete in the championship bracket at 8:45 a.m. on June 28.
The third and fourth-place teams in each pool will compete in the consolation bracket at 8 a.m. on June 28.
Palo Duro is in Pool B alongside Azle, Westwood and The Woodlands. The Dons will take on Azle at 1 p.m. on June 27 in their first game of the tournament before meeting The Woodlands at 2:30 and Westwood at 4 p.m. later that day.
Dumas is in Pool C, and will be tasked with Paris at 10:45 a.m., followed by China Spring at 12:15 p.m. and Cuero at 1:45 p.m. on June 27. Sunray, who is in Pool H, will square off against Wallis Brazos at 10 a.m., Lexington at 11:30 a.m. and Sonora at 1 p.m. on the same day.
Palo Duro and Dumas are led by standout returnees at the quarterback position as Dons’ rising junior Julian Reese II and Demons’ gunslinger Colton Mills, also heading into his junior season, prepare for the 2025 campaign.
Sunray has reached College Station even after graduating one of the best players in program history, UIL record-holder and Amarillo Globe-News Football Player of the Year Armando Lujan, indicating the group could have another strong campaign on the gridiron this fall.
This article originally appeared on Amarillo Globe-News: 7-on-7 State Tournament: Which Texas Panhandle football teams made it to College Station?
Reporting by Randall Sweet, Amarillo Globe-News / Amarillo Globe-News
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
