Message from Coach Jim Poynter
We are a handful of practices and one state qualifying tournament in to the 2024 season. So far it has been a challenge to get the 7/7 players at practice as a group. It is not a lack of interest or commitment, but overlapping seasons (track, baseball) and part time jobs which is normal for us in the preseason. Now that the other seasons are basically complete, we will expect more consistent turnout at practice which will allow us to progress to the standard of play we expect as Vikings.
Saturday 18 players, coaches and a few fans made the drive to Melissa HS (50 miles) in a severe thunderstorm. It was difficult and probably a bit dangerous but thankfully we all arrived safely. The tournament host made a great decision on Friday to divide the tournament into two separate tournament fields; one in the morning from 9 am-2-pm and the other half from 2pm-7pm. This allowed all 16 teams to play in the indoor facility (which would be the only option) without agonizing waits between games.
Lamar jumped out in the first game vs Anna HS to a 24 point lead at half time. Of note, we are going for two points on extra points conversions (from the ten yard line) this season versus the standard "one" from the three yard line. If we can make them more than 50% of the time it will cause other teams to "chase" the score and eventually either score one more TD or make one or more two point conversions. In the first half of game one we went 3-3 which means we had 24 points instead of 21 or even less! Anna also scored 3 TD's in the game but they made only 1 extra point versus our 6 which was the difference in the game 24-19 Lamar. In game two, we faced a good Prosper team and fell 32-30. We had several chances to stop their offense down on the goal line but came up short. In the final game we played a very good defensive team in South Oak Cliff and fell 13-8 but again missed several chances to score that would have won the game.
So, 1-2 is disappointing but not cause for alarm as we missed by 8 points going 3-0 and making the qualifying round. Of note, Midlothian Heritage beat Prosper by 1 point (28-27) to win the qualifying game so the teams were pretty even.
We have a nice mix of experience and youth on this year's Lamar team. This was a great experience for our current freshman and sophomores to get a taste of varsity 7/7, and for our veterans to get back in form.
Our next tournament is nearly 3 weeks away which gives us a chance to work on a number of things in practice to improve, Historically, we have made our biggest jump in quality of play in tournaments in weeks 2-4 and I fully expect that to be the case with this group.
Coach Poynter
