A Report from Day 1 in College Station

 From Coach Poynter:

The Vikings went 2-1 on Friday.

So we advance to the 32 team championship bracket on Saturday.

The Vikings will play Austin Westlake tomorrow at 8:45 am.

 

VFND

Watch LIVE action from the Texas 7 on 7 Tournament

 

Week# 8

Coach Comments # 8

It is STATE 7 ON 7 CHAMPIONSHIP WEEK-Finally! After no season in 2020 it has been two years since the Vikes traveled to College Station to compete against the best high school programs in Texas. Now that the State Qualifying Tournaments across the state are complete the UPDATED ALL TIME TOP 5 QUALIFYING LIST IS:

TOP 5 ALL TIME STATE QUALIFIERS IN DIVISION-1
1. ARLINGTON LAMAR    23/23 YEARS
2.   CYPRESS FAIRBANKS       21/23 YEARS
3.   KATY                20/23 YEARS (tied)
3.   THE WOODLANDS       20/23 YEARS (tied)
3.   ABILENE                20/23 YEARS (tied)


All but Katy HS qualified in 2021 although Southlake has decided not to participate in the State Tournament this year. Out of 1450 high schools in Texas this is somthing Viking Nation can be very proud to be the all-time leader. Just as remarkable ALL 23 of the Lamar qualifications have been “on the road” meaning never in a home tournament!  
Here are links that all fans will want including a way to watch the action “live” from home!

Live action: https://twitter.com/Texan_Live/status/1405241790127644672   

Pool:    Be sure to look for Division 1 Pool H 2021 70n7 H Pools    

2021 Roster: 2021 Roster

Primer on State Tournament: https://www.texasfootball.com/article/2021/06/21/2021-texas-7-on-7-state-tournament-primer?ref=article_preview_img

We will depart LHS at 1:00 pm this Thursday and be back sometime Saturday evening. VFND!
Coach Jim Poynter

Week #7

7th Coach Comments-2021

Last Friday night the Vikes participated in the Lamar SQT which was held at Arlington High. Having qualified the week before the Vikes could only participate in pool play which is 3 games. We like to play in the maximum number of SQT’s because the kids like to face off against other high schools as much as possible under game conditions. So, this was the 6/7 SQT’s we will participate in prior to the state tournament next week.
Friday night was our opportunity to play all our younger or less experienced players extensively. Sirawn Evans our “to be” sophomore QB has been very patient waiting to get playing time at QB. He played 5 of the 6 halves for us Friday and did a good job and got better each game. Our starting QB Jaden Morris played center and was our coach on the field. Jaden showed great leadership in helping Sirawn call plays and offering him encouragement. Even though winning was not the emphasis this week, we did go 2-1 running our season record to 13-6.
This week we start practicing with the state tournament more front of mind. We will take the 20 players most likely to go to State to Keller this Friday for the final SQT of the season. This will give us 3 games to get this group ready to go.



VFND!
Coach Poynter

Week #6

 The Vikings traveled to Pennington Field in Bedford for the 5th of 7 state qualifying tournaments in north Texas this season. As most everyone knows, Lamar is the only HS team in Texas to qualify for the state tournament every year of its existence. We talk to the team about “protecting the record” from the first day of practice. As I said in the first coach comments back in March, there was no 2020 7 on 7 season because of the pandemic. Because we missed a year, we literally had never met the players; let alone coached them. So, we knew building trust early with each other would be important. Then, unexpectedly Coach DeLay and some of his staff left LHS. So, football related activities such as spring football were put on hold. To help fill the void we scheduled extra 7 on 7 practice each week. We knew it was important for some continuity at least as a 7 on 7 team. So, all these factors meant we had extra challenges to qualify this season. We kept telling the players to stay focused on the things we COULD (effort; practice; conditioning) control and not worry about the other things like hiring a new HFC and staff; that would eventually come together. Still, we did not qualify through the first four tournaments. Down to three remaining tournaments the pressure to “perform” really started to mount. Could we stay focused and positive as a team and TRUST one another?

Last Saturday the Vikes did just that, keeping their poise and meeting the challenge, going 4-0 to qualify for the 23rd year! This showed me the guts this team has, and I think there were some real-life lessons learned about perseverance and performing under pressure. Couple qualifying with the hiring of Lamar’s own Billy Skinner as HFC and a great staff, things are really looking up!

We will still compete in the last two tournaments to get some of our younger players some varsity level competition and to stay sharp for the trip to College Station 6/24-6/26. I am very proud of these young men and their resilience. Join me in congratulation the newest members of this very exclusive club!

Coach Poynter

Week #5

 Coach comments # 5

The Vikes traveled to Northwest HS in Justin to compete in the 4th of 7 state qualifying tournaments scheduled in north Texas this season. As has been the case so far this season, we played well at times but struggled at others. We will have to iron out these “ups and downs” if we are to qualify this season. In most qualifying tournaments you need to go 4-0 on the day to be sure you are “in”. We have only been able to put together 2 wins in a row so far in 2021 so therein lies the challenge.
We went 1-1 in the pool games that mattered Saturday. By that I mean the third game did not count as it was against a team that had previously qualified. The first game the Vikes played well on both sides of the ball and won 26-6. The second game against Trophy Club was very close. They ran an effective offense against our “zone” defense and took the lead 20-13 at the half. Our coaches elected to play more “man” defense in the 2nd half and really slowed down their offense. Despite turning the ball over on downs and an interception the Vikings nearly won the game at the end with a beautiful long throw and catch. Unfortunately, time expired before we could get off a final play, so it goes down as a 20-19 defeat. In the 3rd game we played everyone to give some game experience to some of the younger or less experienced players.
We did have an unfortunate incident Saturday where one of our players and one of the TC players were ejected for the rest of the tournament for fighting. After visiting with our player Saturday evening his remorse was clear and he will be apologizing to the entire team at practice Thursday. There is no place for losing control; we teach our Vikings to compete and play hard but within the rules. Our team reputation, built up over two decades of competing is excellent within the 7 on 7 community. But like anything in life, a team or individual’s reputation can be destroyed in an instance and NO ONE has the right to do that. Some may wish for a harsher penalty, but I would rather teach with love and trust that the lesson sticks.
This Saturday we travel to LD Bell for the next SQT. We will post the pools later in the week.
VFND!
Coach Poynter