7 on 7

Despite football season not kicking off for another month and half, all high school football teams are getting some practice in with some form of 7 on 7 this summer.

The Aledo Bearcats have hosted their own league with local schools for several decades and Coach Robby Jones does not see a reason to change it at this point.

“It is what we’ve always done here,” Jones said. “We’ve never gone off and done the qualifiers.”

For other schools across the state, 7 on 7 is a whole other form of competition that would culminate in the state tournament a week from now at College Station. Teams have to travel around and pay to enter state qualifying tournaments, play as many as five to six games a day on the weekends and a dedicated parent would have to step up to coach the team since coaches are not allowed.

On top of that, despite 7 on 7 looking an awful lot like touch football without any lineman, it is a completely different game that does not in every way translate to the results teams expect during the fall.

“It’s not the same game,” Jones said. “One of our big things is we try to dominate up front with offensive and defensive lines. That is what makes Aledo what it is. We can get beat by some teams we shouldn’t get beat by in 7 on 7 but when we play them in real football and beat them by 70.”

Every coach has a story about a school they usually have no problem beating taking it to their team in 7 on 7 because they refused to change their playbook and personnel to take full advantage of the different skill sets that thrive in padless football. 

There are schools every year in the state tournament who do well that are not traditional powers or a team that will not throw the ball all that much once the fall season kicks off.

Therefore, Jones and his staff choose not to prioritize  7 on 7 and instead treat it like competitive practice against opposing schools. 

“It is something you do and we take pride in it,” Jones said. “When we come out here we compete and try to win, but at the same time it is not something we put all of our focus on.”

The growth of the whole 7 on 7 enterprise over the years has meant the league has grown and shrunk, with multiple local locations besides Aledo hosting weekly leagues in the past.

Still, recent results in the fall have not indicated the Bearcats are missing anything from not fully embracing 7 on 7. More importantly for Jones, with the amount of time and energy his players already are expected to dedicate to football, he feels like not having his kids go full out in high competitive tournament games is the best approach.

“We feel like our kids need a little time in the summer to regroup, get refreshed,” Jones said. “We try to give them that time during the summer. We plan on playing into December and then we’ll do spring ball for four and half weeks in the spring so we don’t want to overload our kids with the 7 on 7.”