Brentwood, MRH Get Glimpse Into Football Future at 7-on-7 Tournament

CREVE COEUR—A 7-on-7 football tournament is the perfect opportunity to showcase the quarterbacks. It can also be a good testing ground for new coaches.

There was plenty of each on display Saturday at De Smet Jesuit High School.

The St. Louis Metropolitan Football Coaches Association held its inaugural 7-on-7 tourney at De Smet with 23 teams from Missouri and Illinois participating.

Top area quarterbacks like Dalton Demos of Christian Brothers College, Gateway Tech’s Paul Rice, Ladue’s Brandon Carr, De Smet’s Conner Harrison, Fort Zumwalt West’s Drew Hare and Lindbergh’s Peter Simpson all aired it out without having to worry about getting hit by an oncoming rush.

The tournament featured two-hand touch “tackling” and was played without pads, and had no rushing attempts.

“The biggest thing is that the quarterbacks get work,” De Smet coach Pat Mahoney said.

In addition to the quarterbacks, there were also plenty of new coaches at new schools. Wentzville Holt, University City, Brentwood, Lutheran St. Charles, Columbia Hickman, Alton, Belleville West and Gateway Tech all have someone new to lead the program. That made Saturday’s 30-minute games even that much more important.

“That’s why we’re doing it,” said Brentwood coach Keith Herring, who comes over from Hazelwood West. “We’re trying to get the kinks out. This is huge for us, just to go against other people and the bigger schools. We want to compete against them. We don’t want to back down from anybody.”

Brentwood and Lutheran St. Charles were the only teams to go winless on the day, but their coaches were not discouraged.

“I want (my players) to see this competition,” Herring said.

Maplewood-Richmond Heights suffered a close loss to eventual runner-up Gateway Tech in the first round of the Gold Division playoffs after going 3-0 in pool play against Columbia Hickman, Cardinal Ritter and Fort Zumwalt North. Second-year head coach Brandon Gregory said competing against the bigger schools is something he can’t replicate in practice but helps them prepare for the better teams on the schedule.

“It is very beneficial,” Gregory said. “We don’t look at ourselves as a small school. We expect to compete.”

Gregory added that it is June and he knows his team will still get better, but he doesn’t want them peaking until the playoffs begin in November. The Blue Devils are still pretty green and Gregory said that Saturday was a learning experience for his young players.

“They can get all the thinking out of the way, so that way it’s not, ‘Coach, I thought I had this, I thought I…’. You get that out of the way now," he said. "So when August comes, they’ll be fresh and ready to go.”

The Blue Devils begin their season on Aug. 26 against MICDS.

Picking up an event that had been previously been held in one form at Columbia high schools Hickman and Rock Bridge, Mahoney said his school made sense because of its location and facilities.

“Everybody runs 7s, but the difference maker is that they’re not as competitive,” Mahoney said. “Here you’ve got a lot of teams; you’ve got people you’re going to see later in the year, so the competition level rises. Now you get a little more game situations and get to do some coaching on the field.”

Zumwalt West was the overall champion, defeating Gateway Tech in the Gold Division title game. Gateway had beaten West in pool play in a 47-45 shootout. Ladue beat Alton, 26-14, for the Silver Division title and Cardinal Ritter defeated Belleville West, 27-14, to win the Bronze Division.