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COLLEGE STATION, Texas — Austin Westlake overcame a Manvel team with three of the nation’s top athletes to win the Adidas 7v7 Division I state championship 43-24 in double overtime Saturday.
Dual-threat quarterback D’Eriq King verbaled to TCU in January and wide receiver Reggie Hemphill-Mapps is committed to play for Texas. Safety Deontay Anderson ranks 39th in the ESPN 300 list.
Despite all their effort and improvements this summer, Anderson said, “We’ve still got to do a lot better, especially on my part.”
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Football, no matter how many players are on the field, is taken seriously in Texas.
“I take the blame for our loss tonight, ” Anderson said. “We’ve just got to get ready for the season.”
But leadership is proved by action. Anderson left The Opening in Beaverton, Ore., which wrapped up Friday, to join his teammates in College Station. That speaks volumes of his character.
“Everybody got closer together, ” he said, “and that’s what we’re here at 7-on-7 for: chemistry.”
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Chapparals quarterback Sam Ehlinger capitalized on crisp, quick routes from his wide receivers throughout bracket play. Westlake scored 122 points in its first three matchups and went undefeated in the tournament at 8-0. In the eight games, Westlake outscored its foes by a combined 335-189.
In the semifinals, Westlake faced District 14 opponent Lake Travis and won 33-32.
On the adjacent field, Manvel downed Cy-Fair in its semifinal contest.
The class of 2017’s top tight end and recent Notre Dame commit, Brock Wright, and Cy Fair played well against Manvel until the Mavericks pulled away in the second half with a score not reflective of the competitive game: 45-20.
“I am excited for the fall. It’s going to be fun.” Wright said. “The coaches were just saying 7-on-7 is the beginning, a stepping stone. We’ll be ready by the time real football comes around.”
Cy-Fair’s signal caller was soon-to-be sophomore Cameron Arnold. He showed poise and precision despite throwing into the mouth of one of the states most active secondary units.
“This was the first go-around for a lot of our guys, ” Arnold said.
He and Wright both anticipate great regular seasons and 7-on-7 campaigns in the years to come.
High school is a term for education system used in parts of the English-speaking world to describe institutions which provide all or part of secondary education, but not always the highest years of basic education, which can be called a "secondary school" or...
