Stanhope Elmore, Elmore County impress at Trinity 7-on-7 tourney
Stanhope Elmore’s Jackson Thomas skies for a pass against Carroll defenders in the Trinity 7-on-7 camp at Ragsdale-Boykin Stadium on Tuesday. (Tim Gayle)
By TIM GAYLE
It was the first seven-on-seven competition this summer for Elmore County High, so first-year coach Kyle Caldwell wasn’t really sure what he would see from his players at Tuesday’s tournament at Trinity’s Ragsdale-Boykin Stadium.
“I kind of wanted, with me being new and our defensive coordinator (Justin Weeks) not calling plays last year, to give our guys a whole month to learn our system offensively and defensively,” Caldwell said. “But I’m proud of our guys. They competed their butts off. We kind of got off to a slow start and you’re at that point where you don’t know whether they’re going to hang their heads or muster up and get ready to go. And they responded all day.”
New Elmore County coach Kyle Caldwell speaks to his team after the Trinity 7-on-7 tournament on Tuesday at Ragsdale-Boykin Stadium. (Tim Gayle)
Stanhope Elmore, after finishing as the runner-up at the event in 2021 to Trinity, defeated Carroll 21-14 to win the event. But the Mustangs were pushed to the wire in the semifinals by Elmore County, finishing their matchup tied before Stanhope Elmore stopped the Panthers on one overtime play from the 10-yard line to determine Carroll’s opponent.
“They got a lot better as the day went on,” Bradford said of the Panthers, “and that’s what the point of these things are, to consistently get better.”
Trinity, which won the event in 2021, lost to Carroll in the semifinals, but Wildcat coach Granger Shook was satisfied with what he saw from his team.
“I think we did a good job on both sides of the ball, putting different pieces in different places and trying to create some depth,” Shook said. “I’m excited for what I saw. I think our future this season is going to be very bright. I think we’re a team that’s probably going to take a few weeks for us to click on all cylinders, but to me that’s very encouraging.
“I like this group, I like our leadership. We’re not leading the way we need to yet, but we’re trying to and that’s very promising as well.”
Stanhope Elmore, meanwhile, was the most complete team in the tournament, flashing a variety of receivers and defenders along with returning quarterback Jacob Bryant.
“You always want to win,” Bradford observed, “but we wanted to get in sync on offense and defense, get our communication down, get our timing down. That’s the point of doing these seven-on-sevens, to get better for the fall. We had a lot of young guys step up. We rotated eight to 10 receivers the entire day from start to finish. We’ve got a lot of depth, which is going to help us throughout the season. For the guys that didn’t play as much last year to get a lot of work in and have some success is always good.”
The eight teams competed in pool play in the morning and were seeded in bracket play. Trinity defeated Jemison in quarterfinal play, while Carroll beat Andalusia, Elmore County defeated Chilton County and Stanhope Elmore beat Reeltown.
The Panthers continued their surprising performance in the semifinals before losing the one-play overtime.
“Defensively, (the most important thing was) communication and our guys did a great job of that as the day went on,” Caldwell said. “We’re young in the secondary so that was my biggest questions -- are we going to be able to make our checks and are we going to be able to communicate? They did a great job.
“Offensively, I just wanted our guys to run their routes full speed and to know what route they have to do. They’re learning because it’s a whole new offensive and defensive system.”
Elmore County, 0-10 a year ago, will compete in their second seven-on-seven on Wednesday at the University of West Alabama.
“I want our guys to understand that I don’t care what happened last year,” Caldwell said. “That’s water under the bridge. I want them to compete and I want them to feel like they can beat anybody.”