ASTROTURF PLAYS A MAJOR ROLE IN SOUTHEASTERN 7-ON-7

(DALTON, Georgia) - AstroTurf is playing a major role in what is fast becoming one of the country’s largest high school football passing tournaments at the Southeastern 7-on-7 this weekend.

The tournament took root last year when organizers from the Daily Citizen News, Dalton’s newspaper, hosted 20 teams at the inaugural event.

“We are proud and excited to be a part of this event,” said Bryan Peeples, President of AstroTurf.  “There will be over 1,000 football players here.  Not only will they all improve as teams, but they will get to experience the many performance attributes of playing on AstroTurf.”

This year’s event features 32 teams from seven states in the Southeast.  Teams of offensive and defensive skill players will face off in a passing tournament which consists of 30-minute games on 40-yard fields.  

On Saturday, teams will divide into pools of eight and each will face off in seven intense games which start at noon and end at 10:30 p.m. on eight fields.  The top four teams in each pool will move on to double-elimination championship bracket play on Sunday, while the remainder of the teams play in a consolation bracket.  Each team is guaranteed a minimum of nine games.

The event will also feature a camp for linemen and a skills combine, both of which will take place on AstroTurf fields.  The camp will be for linemen from all the schools which are participating in the tournament and is designed to improve skills at those positions.  The skills combine is free and will test any high school player in the 40-yard dash, pro agility test, cone drill, and broad jump.  The results can be used to help improve a player’s college recruiting prospects.

The tournament will also feature a special community day on Friday for teams to work together in volunteering at a Dalton-area non-profit agency.

These types of tournament competitions have grown increasingly popular in recent years due to practice time restrictions by state governing bodies, as well as the need for teams to evaluate and pinpoint areas of focus for the development of skill-position players.

Several of the coaches in the event were recently interviewed by the Daily Citizen News regarding their participation in the event.  Here is what several of them had to say:

“It’s a great way to cause your passing offense and passing defense to be judged in a competitive environment,” said Kevin Rose of Bob Jones High School in Madison, Alabama. “We do exactly what we do (during the high school season) in seven-on-seven.”

“How guys perform in seven-on-seven can give you a good idea how they may play in real games,” said Billy Gresham of George Washington Carver High School in Montgomery, Alabama. “We can see how they throw the ball, catch the ball, defend the ball in tough situations. These things are gauges for coaches in determining how guys can play at a high level against great teams.”

“I’m looking more to the defensive work we’re going to get more than the offense,” said Sean Gray , head coach at Southeast Whitfield in Dalton. “I’m looking more to make sure my kids understand the zones and man-to-man that we get. These types of competitions definitely give us a good idea of who we’re going to have as starting receivers, cornerbacks and even quarterbacks once training camp starts.”

“It’s all about reps and timing,” said Dante Ferguson, coach of Stone Mountain High School outside Atlanta. “If our guys continue to get those reps, they’ll become more confident.”

“Sometimes you stay in Florida and you see the same guys over and over again, so this was kind of a refreshing change,” said Josh Corey, head coach of Fletcher High School in Neptune Beach, Florida . “This was good to see so many teams from out of state. We want to go and get some good work against quality teams, but this is also like a reward for our kids, to take them out of state.”

Here are the schools which will be represented at the event:

ALABAMA

Auburn – Auburn – Coach Tim Carter

Bob Jones  – Madison – Coach Kevin Rose

Carver – Montgomery – Coach Alphonso Pugue

Florence – Florence – Coach Jamey DuBose

Luverne – Luverne – Coach Les Sanders

North Jackson – Stevenson – Coach Shawn Peek

ARKANSAS

Hardin Academy – Searcy – Coach Roddy Mote

FLORIDA

Fletcher – Neptune Beach – Coach Josh Corey

GEORGIA

Callaway – Hogansville – Coach Pete Wiggins

Cartersville – Cartersville – Coach Frank Bearden

Cedar Grove – Ellenwood – Coach Raymond Bonner

Christian Heritage – Dalton – Coach Preston Poag

Coahulla Creek – Varnell – Coach Jared Hamlin

Dalton – Dalton – Coach Matt Land

Griffin – Griffin – Coach Steve DeVoursney

Lafayette – Lafayette – Coach Tab Gable

Martin Luther King – Lithonia – Coach Mike Carson

Northwest Whitfield – Tunnel Hill – Coach Josh Robinson

Pace Academy – Atlanta – Coach Matt Hall

Pierce County – Blackshear – Coach Sean Pender

Ringgold – Ringgold – Coach Robert Akins

Southeast Whitfield – Dalton – Coach Sean Gray

Stone Mountain – Stone Mountain - Coach Dante Furguson

KENTUCKY

Bowling Green – Bowling Green – Kevin Wallace

Murray – Murray – Coach Steve Duncan

SOUTH CAROLINA

North Augusta – North Augusta – Coach Dan Pippen

TENNESSEE

Baylor – Chattanooga – Coach Phil Massey

Karns – Knoxville – Coach Derek Witt

McCallie – Chattanooga – Coach Ralph Potter

Riverdale – Murfreesboro – Coach Ron Aydelott

For more information on the event, visit www.southeastern7on7.com.