VIKINGS QUALIFY FOR A RECORD 18TH TRIP TO THE STATE TOURNAMENT!

On Saturday, in the first state qualifier weekend of the season, the Vikes took care of business and qualified for the 18th consecutive year. As you probably know Lamar is the only high school in Texas to qualify every year of the State Tournament. In a State as large as Texas (1400 high schools) where football is king to be the only school to accomplish this is quite a feat. Most of the current players were not even born when the Vikes qualified in the very first State 7 on 7 tournament in 1998.

Because of the weather the team had to compete at two different venues on the same day. We drove the 50+ miles to Wylie and played three pool games at Wylie East HS.

The first game was against the home team and the score was close most of the game until Wylie opened up a 12 point lead. With less than 5 minutes left the Vikes scored 14 points and got a key interception to prevail at the end 34-32. Great job of staying composed and playing together to get the job done. Extra point conversions in 7 on 7 are key and the final margin of two points was the Vikes getting their XP's!

The 2nd pool game was against Episcopal School of Dallas. Maybe the finish in the previous game distracted us because we did not play well on offense in the first half relative to the competition level. In what became a trademark of the day though, the Vikes made adjustments at half and played with more intensity down the stretch and won 41-14.

The 3rd pool game against Rowlett again saw the Vikes clamp down on the opponent in the second half with another interception and won 40-13 to finish 3-0 and win pool "C".

The team loaded up and quickly moved the 15 miles to Rockwall the actual tournament host site. The Vikes played the pool "D" winner the Keller Indians in the Qualifying Round. We scored every time we had the ball and played perhaps our most complete game of the day winning 60-27. That is the most points I recall us scoring in the qualifying round in my years of coaching.

The Championship Game would have been against Lindale HS from east Texas, the winner of Pools A and B. As is the case most of the time neither of us wanted to play this game (most schools are in spring football and there is no reason to risk injury). A coin flip decided the Champion and Lamar called it correctly and were crowned champions of the 2015 Rockwall State Qualifying Tournament.

Couple of take away's from my vantage point:

• We have the talent to play with anyone IF we play focused for BOTH halves.
• Stayed together when playing from behind and kept our composure and got the W.
• Good job making and then executing 1/2 time adjustments. Dominated second half of each game.
• Kids learning that the "secret sauce" in 7 on 7 is: two defensive stops per half by our "D" and score every time on offense including XP's and you WIN.

Very pleased with the effort today. Kids were sore from spring football practice and they had to really fight through the aches and pains to get it done. Showed mental and physical toughness which is the VIKING WAY.

VFND,

Coach Poynter