2019 7 ON 7 SEASON ABOUT TO BEGIN

This Saturday (4/27) the Vikes travel to Frisco to compete in the first state 7 on 7 qualifying event of the 2019 season. This is somewhat unique event as the venue is the Ford "Star" in Frisco, home of the Dallas Cowboys. Last year there were Cowboy coaches, a few players and even some cheerleaders watching and of course the facility is first rate. The "Pool" winners play inside the Ford Star which seats 12,000 in the "qualifying" round of games. So it is a fun event to kick off the season!

Because it is still April many of our athletes are involved in other seasonal sports namely baseball and track. Just as last year the Frisco event is at the same time as "Regionals" in track. Once again some of our great Lamar athletes have made it to regionals which is great but it does mean we are missing some good players for the Frisco event. Of course that means that some of our younger players will get a chance to compete this week at the varsity 7 on 7 tournament level of play. There is a PDF tab on the front page of our web site. Click on that tab and you will see a couple of PDF's related to our schedule, where to park; where/when we play etc.

I will blog again after Saturday's event and let you know how we fared and more about the upcoming season.

VFND,

Coach Poynter

WRAP UP OF THE 2018 SEASON

This was a memorable 7 on7 season for the Vikings.  The serious injury to Brett Green mid-way through the season was of course something none of us will ever forget. We are SO THANKFUL that Brett has made substantial progress towards a complete recovery! His injury was scary but it also brought the team even closer to one another. We could feel God's loving hands all over that situation. We prayed before every game after Brett's injury, something we had not done before hand. This was the player's idea and they had me lead them in prayer for the balance of the season. So it was uplifting to see them turn to our Maker for comfort. It is not just about football...

It took until the 5th of 6 state qualifying tournaments for us to get qualified for a state record 21st time in a row. As the pressure began to mount over "the streak" the kids also dealt with new head gear purchased for them immediately after the injury to Brett. The headgear is warmer but clearly was the right thing to do. We went 4-0 in the 5th SQT and beat rival Arlington High to clinch a spot in this years state tournament.

We drew a strong pool for the state tournament with Beaumont Westbrook; Lewisville Hebron and Katy in the pool with the Vikes. Since the pools are random some are tougher than others. All 4 teams were 1-1 going into the 3rd game so it was a winner advances game. After taking a 2 TD lead into the middle of the 2nd half we were not able to sustain it and lost a heartbreaker with seconds left in the game, 45-40.

That loss made it tough to get up and get going Saturday in the consolation bracket. But showing the same resilience they had shown all year the team ripped off 3 wins in a row and advanced to the semi-final round, just one game from the title game. Although the Vikes lost in a close game to eventual title winner Lubbock Coronado, we finished the last three weeks of the season 11-3. This group of kids really showed how to get up off the mat and keep going! VFND.

GRAPEVINE STATE QUALIFIER

On Saturday the Vikes traveled to Grapevine for the 2nd of 6 State Qualifying tournaments.

In game 1 the Vikes defeated the Richland Rebels 42-21. On a sad note, a Richland player broke his leg for the 3rd time in his young career. The Vikes said a prayer for him during the halt in play.

 

In game 2 the Vikes spotted Mesquite Horn an 11 point 1/2 time lead as Horn had the ball one more possession and a Lamar TD was waived off by a 4-second call. The 2nd half was a “home run derby” as both teams scored at will on deep balls. Lamar was stopped just short of the game winning TD falling 46-42. We also had an apparent "pick six" waived off by an official.

 

In the final game the Vikes faced Frisco Heritage and came away with a 48-31 victory. For the day the Vikes averaged over 45 ppg while giving up 32 ppg a 13 ppg differential. Horn was the Pool winner by virtue of their “head to head” win over the Vikes. Comparatively the Vikes beat Heritage by 17 while Horn beat Heritage by 1. Horn lost to Richland and the Vikes won by 21! Mesquite won the qualifying round and thus qualified for the state tournament.

Although the Vikes didn’t qualify, we are definitely on the right track. We will continue to work on getting a minimum of “2 stops per half” defensively which we did in 2 of 3 games Saturday. We also must be more consistent on offense particularly in the 1st half of games.

The overall effort was excellent and I look forward to our 3 rd SQT next Saturday in Bedford! VFND

THOUGHTS AFTER FIRST TOURNAMENT AND LOOKING FORWARD

Last week was quite a week for Viking football athletics in general with the NFL draft; regional track competition and the first 7 on 7 state qualifier!

We knew the first state qualifying tournament last Saturday (4/28/18) would be a fun event for the players as it was held at the Cowboys Star Center in Frisco. Our pool games were on the Cowboys turf practice field and it was a fast track on a beautiful day. Although we did not see any Cowboy players some or our guys did spot the Cowboy cheerleaders boarding their bus to Arlington to participate in the last rounds of the NFL draft event at Cowboy Stadium.

Because we have some great athletes on our team we also knew we might "lose" some of them to the "regional" track meet. Well, we had 5 of our fastest guys qualify in the area round which is just outstanding! So along with a couple of injuries we were short at least 6 starters from our 7 on 7 team last Saturday.

With so many key contributors out we asked the remaining players to step up and play literally wherever we asked them to play. Several guys played defense with no experience on that side of the ball since grade school! We played with very good effort but at the end of the day we just did not have enough resources to call on to win our pool and advance to the qualifying round. The kids and coaches were disappointed because we do not take losing easily; there is a lot of Viking Pride in our 7 on 7 program. I told them and their families to not get down at all as it is truly "pre-season" and going forward we will have our whole team with which to compete.

The next two Saturdays we have a couple of our most important practices of the season. For the first time this spring we should have ALL of our players there. This will let us get reps as units and get our communication and schemes worked out and all of our plays installed. On 5/19 our next State Qualifying Tournament will be in Grapevine and I expect us to be at full speed and ready to COMPETE!

PRACTICE UPDATE 4-3-18

We now have two practices completed and three more to go before our first State Qualifying Tournament 4/28. We were much better in the 2nd practice as we began to get used to playing again. We have a long way to go to be ready for an SQT but that is to be expected. We have a couple of injuries we are dealing with but nothing too serious.

The next few practices we will have to pick up our tempo on both sides of the ball. Some of the younger players have shown that varsity 7 on 7 is "not too big for them" and we expect to get some real help from our to-be sophomores.

Just before our first SQT the kids will start spring football. We  will still practice 7 on 7 on Saturdays so we are ready for SQT # 2 on 5/26. As we go about the business of trying to qualify for a state record 21st season in a row we have to keep the mindset that this is never easy; that this is a new year and this team has NEVER qualified before.

VFND!

Coach Poynter

2018 SEASON ABOUT TO BEGIN!

As I reflect back on the past 17 seasons of Lamar Viking 7 on 7 I cannot help but feel pride and frankly some amazement at what the "Lamar Nation" has accomplished through all the hard work put in by the players, parents, coaches, fans and sponsors to create this "one of a kind" program.

Texas is a big state. Any time you are one of the very best at something out of some 1400 high schools on a consistent basis, you are demonstrating your willingness to "put it out there" each season. I expect nothing less than this same concerted effort out of all the stakeholders this season starting with our players and coaching staff. We do not "hide" from the streak of qualifying 20 years in a row. We embrace it; we talk about it and we are committed to not letting it end on "our watch".

So, even though it is not yet "our season" we start the journey this Saturday March 24th with our first practice. We are going to hit the field passing, catching, defending and coaching like it means something to us-BECAUSE IT DOES.



VFND
Coach Jim Poynter

THOUGHTS FROM THE STATE TOURNAMENT AND ON THE SEASON

The State Tournament Board of Directors tries to put teams from around the state in each pool to provide the players a chance to compete against teams that they might not normally see in competition 7 on 7 or in football. It is a "random" drawing so some years the pool is more competitive than others recognizing that ALL of the teams where good enough to qualify along the way. It is important to recognize that just "getting there" is a real accomplishment. Teams like Southlake, Austin Westlake and Arlington's own Martin and Bowie high schools tried but did not succeed in qualifying this season. This year Lamar was placed in a pool with San Antonio Oconnor (SA area), Hutto (Austin Area) and Manvel (Houston area). All three of these teams had a player that was selected as the Pre-Season District POY on either offense or defense. There were a number of Division 1 recruits on these teams, particularly on the Manvel team. So we knew we had our work cut out for us! 

We played about as well as we can play for the first half of the Hutto game opening up a 34-13 lead. They fought back and made it closer but we stayed ahead the whole game. In the 2nd game against SAC we played a complete game and won by 17. So going into the 3rd game 2-0 we knew we had accomplished our goal of making it into the championship bracket on Saturday as we could finish no worse than 2-1 or 2nd in the pool. Whether it was that knowledge or the heat or a combination thereof we "ran out of gas" in the Manvel game and were beaten pretty soundly. Still 2-1 in this pool was a good day's work!

To give you some further evidence of the talent we played against Friday, on Saturday Hutto and SAC played in the consolation bracket tournament. In many ways this is a hard thing to do because you are really playing for pride as you cannot win the 7 on 7 state championship. This 32 team tournament requires winning 4 games in a row on Saturday to get to the finals. Well guess who wins 4 games each? That's right Hutto beat SAC in the consolation finals! What this tells me is those kids are mentally tough and have a lot of pride. Our first game on Saturday was against Waxahatchie. We beat them 28-26 to qualify earlier in the year so we knew they were a very good team. They played at another level during the state tournament, beating us and three more excellent teams to reach the State Finals. They lost a heartbreaker, going for two points at the end and missing to lose to Lake Travis by one point. So literally 3 of the teams we played last week made it to the final 4 spots!

Although going out early on Saturday is tough it does help to know you were playing and competing against other quality teams. The 2017 edition of the Viking 7 on 7 had an outstanding year finishing 17-6. They competed hard; love each other and are willing to make the sacrifices necessary to be a good team in the summer and now I am sure they will do the same in the fall. 

Super job again this season by our assistant coaches all of whom were Vikings.

THANKS FOR THE OPPORTUNITY TO BE YOUR COACHES AND CONGRATS AGAIN ON JOINING THE "ALWAYS QUALIFIED CLUB"  VFND AND "20/20"
Jim Poynter