Colquitt County (GA) wins the Collins Hill 7-on-7 National Showcase for its second title in as many days
SUWANEE, GA – It's safe to say that the past two days have been pretty good for Colquitt County's football team during the final week of its 7-on-7 tournament summer conditioning program.
A day after winning the championship of the Kirby Smart 7-on-7 tournament at the University of Georgia in Athens, the Packers traveled less than an hour down Georgia Highway 316 and swept through a strong field to take the title at the 2022 Collins Hill National 7-on-7 Showcase on Friday at Fahring Field and other venues at the Collins Hill High School.
Behind a potent offense led by quarterback Neko Fann as well as Ny Carr, Landen Thomas and Zay Williams, Colquitt ended a run of 17 straight individual games won and two titles in less than 24 hours after driving up more than 200 miles from its home in south Georgia, an effort that earned plenty of praise from head coach Sean Calhoun.
“We did come a long way (up from Moultrie). … You've got to battle the heat, and you're a little tired and a little sore, so to (win) 17 games in two days, to say that I'm proud of them is an understatement,” Calhoun said. “You know, 7-on-7, yeah, it's not real football, but we do run real plays that we're going to run in 11-on-11. And you want to see your guys compete, and you want to see (if you) can do some fundamentals. We've got a lot of stuff to work on, but I can't be more proud of this bunch.”
It wasn't just the wins that were impressive for Colquitt County. It was also who those wins came against.
The Packers had to go through Jefferson County and Norcross, to get to the semifinals before downing tournament host and last year's Class AAAAAAA state champion Collins Hill, 21-6, in the semifinals, and then pulling away late for a 38-26 win over another metro Atlanta power, Walton, in the title game.
In addition to the endurance the team showed in battling through fatigue to negotiate that gauntlet, Fann pointed to the chemistry he and his teammates displayed as a major factor in the two tournament titles this week.
“We're just coming together as a team,” said Fann, a high-level junior prospect not only as a quarterback in football, but also as a shortstop in baseball. “We're more like a family this year. You can feel it. You can feel the energy this year. It's just different.”
Among the rest of the field, Walton had a strong day by going a combined 8-1 in pool and bracket play, while host Collins Hill was 7-1 on the day despite a lot of new players in key positions after key losses to graduation from last year's state title and national powerhouse team.
It was that perspective that left Eagles head coach Lenny Gregory with positive vibes.
“Everybody wants to win,” Gregory said. “But you've got to look at the big picture of what this is going to do for the fall and our football season. 7-on-7 is a great indicator, to me, if your team is willing to compete. When you're good at 7-on-7, you usually have a good football team. So looking at where we're at right now, we've got a good football team. So that's a positive thing. What we've got to do is just get better.”
The Collins Hill A team took a step in that direction with perhaps the highlight of the day during an epic double overtime win over Greenville (SC) in the quarterfinals.
Trailing by a touchdown in the first extra frame, senior quarterback Mike Sheehan threw a bullet to the back of the end zone on third down that J.D. Davis hauled in and got a foot down just inside the end line for the game-tying score to force a second overtime.
Then after Ethan Campbell's TD reception from Sheehan put Collins Hill in front, the sophomore then picked off a Greenville pass in the end zone on third down to secure an extra three points and secure the Eagles' 41-32 victory.
“That showed us a lot of grit out of our kids,” Gregory said. “We were playing a lot of kids both ways. … So just to see them fight through the cramps and all that stuff and find a way to win, that's a great sign.”
Archer was another Gwinnett program with plenty of good signs after a 6-2 day for its A team to reach the quarterfinals behind senior quarterback Justin Johnson, incoming freshman receiver Jonathan Stafford Jr., and senior defensive backs Eugene Camese and Van Nute, plus a 2-4 day from its B team.
First-year head coach Dante Williams, who was Collins Hill's offensive coordinator during the Eagles' run to the Class AAAAAAA state championship last year, was also pleased with how much the Tigers have progressed during the 7-on-7 portion of their summer program, particularly considering the experience on the field, and with each other.
“Significantly better really isn't the word,” Williams said. “You've got everybody out here, (and) there's one returning player with varsity experience. The linemen are a different story, but in 7-on-7, Archer was very senior-laden last year. None of these (current) guys have Friday night varsity experience. So to go to the championship game of the Georgia Tech tournament (last week), be highly competitive at Georgia and Corky Kell, and then be Final Four of this national showcase, I can't ask anything more. I'm proud of the effort.”
Click here for complete game-by-game results.
Photos by Ed Turlington
