VIKES TURN ATTENTION TO 7 ON 7 STATE TOURNAMENT

After finishing the "regular" season 13-4 we will now start our preparations for the state tournament in College Station 7/10-7/11. Attached under the PDF tab on the home page is information on pool play and a roster of the 2015 Viking team that will compete at State. As was our intention this season we chose to limit our weekly practices to just one and compete each Saturday in pool play against other teams. This let us get 17 games under our belt which is more than most teams, as many elect to sit out SQT's after they qualify. We feel like playing at game speed against other teams all season gives us an advantage when we get to College Station. Most of this Lamar team has participated in at least one previous state tournament and our coaching staff has been there perhaps more that any other. We will take off this week leading into the 4th then pick up with several big practices Monday-Wednesday of next week prior to departing on Thursday.

As is the intention of the State 7 on 7 Association in the "drawing" for pool opponents each team plays against teams from other parts of the state. Humble is located just north of Houston, Stratford is in Houston proper and Coppell is up the street here in the Metroplex.

Lamar qualified on 5/23 at the Rockwall SQT. Lamar has qualified for state a record 18 straight times.

Atascocita (Humble):  Qualified on 6/20 at the Tyler SQT. They have qualified for state 2 times.

Houston Stratford qualified on 6/20 at the Cougar SQT. Stratford has qualified for state 13 times. In 2007 Stratford defeated Lamar in the state semi-finals 35-31 behind current NFL star QB Andrew Luck.

Coppell qualified on 6/12 at the Marcus SQT. Coppell beat Lamar 14-12 in a time shortened game on 6/20. Coppell has qualified for state 9 times.

I will post more later as time permits on our pool opponents. This group of Vikes has talent and with the preparation we have and will put in prior to arriving in College Station I expect us to compete very favorably.

Coach Jim Poynter

VIKES GO 3-0 AT THE MIDLOTHIAN SQT

The Vikes got right back to form this past Saturday winning all three pool games. We played with 7 varsity players not available which was a challenge in putting together offensive and defensive combinations. In spite of being somewhat short handed the players responded and showed their athleticism and flexibility in winning all three games. Scores:

Lamar 41   San Antonio Warren 24
Lamar 40   North Crowley  32
Lamar 40   Wylie East 32

At the state tournament in a couple of weeks it will be important for us to be able to play all 20 players at a high level and in some cases in multiple positions. Saturday demonstrated we are capable of doing that.

MIDLOTHIAN POOL INFORMATION FOR SATURDAY

We will play in our final SQT pool this Saturday as we continue our preparations for the State Tournament. We will be playing at Midlothian Heritage HS located at 4000 FM 1387 in Midlothian. Pool play begins at 9:00 am and we are on Field # 1 (north end) for all three games.

Game 1 Lamar vs. San Antonio Warren
Game 2 Lamar vs. North Crowley
Game 3 Lamar vs. Wylie East

We will depart Lamar east parking lot at 7:00 am Saturday and will be back at approximately 1:00 pm. Be sure to bring cleats, mouthpiece, entry fee and signed liability form.

Immediately following the last game we will have a short parent/player meeting to discuss the logistics for the State Tournament.

SATURDAY GAMES AND TIMES FOR VIKES AT LAMAR

9:00 am vs Arlington High on Cravens (north end)
9:40 am vs. Waxahachie on Cravens (north end)
10:20 am vs. Fort Worth All Saints Cravens (south end)
11:00 am vs. Plano West Cravens (south end)
11:40 am vs. Coppell Grass Practice Field

Note: each game will last 30 minutes (instead of 40) and will have 10 minutes between each game.

VIKES TO PLAY AT HOME THIS SATURDAY

Although Arlington Bowie is hosting this Saturday's SQT there will be a "Qualifiers Pool" located at Lamar on Cravens Field. There will be 5 teams in the pool who have previously qualified for the state tournament so the competition will be good in each game. The Vikes will play 4 games on Saturday with the first game scheduled for 9:00 am. As soon as the host school issues a game schedule I will post it here. Players need to be at Lamar in east parking lot by 7:45 am Saturday.

Practice Tuesday night at Cravens at 6:30-8:15 pm. There could be weather in the area Tuesday. The best way to get up to the minute information is via our twitter account @lamar7on7   please follow us if you have not already done so. Remember we practice unless there is lightning in the immediate area.

VIKES WIN 2 OF 3 AT FLOWER MOUND MARCUS SQT

We started out slow but finished the day very strong with a dominating victory over an always talented Desoto team.

Scores:  Game 1: 20-26 Loss to the Colony
              Game 2: 31-30 Win over Lone Star Frisco in o/t
              Game 3: 48-19 Win over Desoto

The Vikes are 9-1 this season in State Qualifiers. While that is obviously a great record we have had nothing to achieve in the last couple of qualifiers as we are already qualified. That makes it harder to get "up" for every team in every game. It was a good wake up call for us to get beat by a team that was not as talented as we are in the first game Saturday. The Colony out played us on both sides of the ball and deserved to win. We played better in the second game and won in overtime. In the 3rd games against one of the most athletically talented programs in the State year in/year out we played our most complete game of the season. The Viking "D" shut out Desoto and their QB who is committed to Ohio State in 2016. Just as impressive our "O" scored TD's on 7 out of 7 possessions and coverted 6 of 7 extra point attempts. The take away for us is that when we want to we can be as good of 7 on 7 in the State-so the test will be for us to continue to play as we did in the last game going forward.

We have a really good test this coming Saturday as all of the teams in our pool have already qualified for State. We will play 4 games against good competition AND THE GAMES WILL BE AT LAMAR so come out and watch! 

SHANE BUECHELE NAMED TO ELITE 11 FINALS

After traveling to the campus of USC in Los Angeles last weekend for the Elite 11 semi-final round  Shane "made the cut" from 30 outstanding QB's from all over the nation down to the group that will travel to Oregon in early July to compete in the finals. While on the field "skills and drills" are certainly a component of the last two competitions, much time is spent on life lessons (leadership; social media; giving back to community etc.) The Elite 11 organization understands that this select group of young men are "leaders" and "influencers" in their local community and that this is chance to help them develop skill sets that will let them effectively lead now and in the future when football is over. So Shane we are proud of your efforts to date and wish you the best at the finals! VFND!

Vikes go 3-0 at Southlake SQT

Nice job overall by the Vikings Saturday as we got some good work done in the heat playing back to back games at 1/2/3:00 pm. I was particularly pleased with the play of some of our younger and role players Saturday-we learned a lot as a coaching staff about some of the kids-remember we are still getting to know them as a group. Our offensive execution efficiency was very good and our average defensive stops per game ratio of 3.3 with a goal of 4.0 was decent too. Our goal is to score every time we have the ball on offense and to get two stops per HALF defensively.  We have not played any elite teams yet so our challenge is to push ourselves to play to our potential and not to the competition. We cannot let teams "hang around"-we have to play with higher intensity from start to finish.

The next three tournaments and practices are very key to what kind of success we will have in College Station. This group has a lot of potential-it is our job to identify the 20 players (travel limit) that can consistently play at an elite level as a group in the State Tournament. State is a grueling 2-days with up to 8 games against very strong competition. The key is to be able to call on all 20 players to make plays when needed.

REVISED PRACTICE SCHEDULE DATED 6/2/15

Now that we are qualified for the State 7 on 7 Championship in July we have tweaked the practice schedule. We are going to use the remaining 4 SQT's as FULL SPEED practices so we can continue to compete against other teams. We will play 3 pool games and then are done under 7 on 7 rules. We will have one regular practice each week leading up to the State Tournament week. That week we will have three practices (7/6, 7/7, 7/8) prior to our departure to College Station on Thursday July 9th. The new schedule is attached on the front page of the web site. We will hand out a copy at tonight's practice as well.  VFND!

  2015 MASTER SCHEDULE: June-End of Season

 DATE:  June 2, 2015

 DATE             LOCATION                              TIME

6/02/15            LAMAR                                 PRACTICE 6:30-8:15 PM

6/06/15            LAMAR (SQT)                     11:00 AM SHARP; LV FOR SOUTHLAKE

6/10/15            LAMAR                                 6:30-8:15 PM WEDNESDAY PRACTICE

6/12/15            LAMAR-FRIDAY (SQT)      6:45 AM SHARP LEAVE FOR FM MARCUS

6/16/15            LAMAR                                  6:30-8:15 PM PRACTICE

6/20/15            LAMAR (SQT)                      7:15AM SHARP LEAVE FOR BOWIE

6/23/15            LAMAR                                 6:30-8:15 PM PRACTICE

6/27/15            LAMAR (SQT)                     6:15 AM SHARP- LEAVE-MIDLOTHIAN

6/29-7/5           OFF FOR WEEK-REST AND ENJOY THE 4^TH HOLIDAY AND COME BACK TO WORK!

7/06/15            LAMAR                                 6:30-8:30 PM STATE PRACTICE

7/07/15            LAMAR                                 6:30-8:30 PM STATE PRACTICE

7/08/15            LAMAR                                 6:30-8:00 PM STATE PRACTICE

7/09/15            LAMAR                                 1:30 PM DEPART FOR COLLEGE STATION

7/09/15            COLLEGE STATION         6:00 PM WALK THROUGH PRACTICE

7/10-11            COLLEGE STATION         STATE TOURNAMENT

7/11/15            COLLEGE STATION         DEPART FOR ARLINGTON LATE PM

 

BE ACCOUNTABLE-BE AT PRACTICE. If you cannot make it to practice let Mrs. Buechele know before practice and why. We practice unless there is lightning.

Varsity Coaches: Jim Poynter/Lawrence Idiata/Julian Steward/Harrell Hicks/Elias Bahar/Steve Villareal/Tanner Buechele

Note: There may be adjustments to this schedule along the way; Mrs. Buechele will keep you posted!

 IT IS NEVER CROWDED ALONG THE “EXTRA MILE.” LET’S FILL IT WITH VIKES!

 

 

 

DIRECTIONS AND POOL PLAY LOCATION MAPS FOR SOUTHLAKE

A map/directions from Lamar to Southlake Carroll SR. HS and the Viking pool play specifics are now posted under the PDF tab on the web site.

LAMAR POOL PLAY GAMES AT SOUTHLAKE SQT

We will meet at Lamar in the east parking lot a little before 11:00 am on Saturday to travel to Southlake to play in the SQT. The late start is due to SAT testing around the country. PLEASE make sure that Nancy or I know by 6/2 (Tuesday) if you are taking the test and will you be meeting the team in Southlake in time for pool play. DO NOT RUSH THROUGH THE SAT TEST-MUCH MORE IMPORTANT IN YOUR LIFE THAN ANOTHER 7 ON 7 TOURNAMENT! We are in Pool "B" on Field 3. Our first game is at 1:00 pm; second at 2:00 pm and 3rd and final game at 3:00 pm. We cannot advance out of pool play since we are already qualified for the state tournament.

Because we qualified early we will be using the 4 remaining state qualifiers as a major "practice" each week. This gives us full speed reps against other teams and allows us as coaches to further evaluate the possible players for the 20 man roster for the State Tournament. This week Shane Buechele will be in southern CA to compete for a spot on the national Elite 11 QB team. This is a great honor and we wish him well! Chance Fuller will get 3 games of varsity experience this weekend and we are all excited to watch him compete and grow as a QB!

We are going from cool wet weather to a tournament in the middle of the day this Saturday with the high expected to be in the low 90's. CRAMPS, DEHYDRATION AND SUNBURN (OR WORSE) is a real possibility as we all adjust to the suddenly hot weather. Starting TODAY players, coaches and fans need to INCREASE their intake of fluids. As you know by Thursday or so it is too late to help hydrate for Saturday.  So drink and get out those hats, sunblock and bug spray for Saturday!