Football: Clock ticking for 7-on-7 berths

Time is running out for a 7-on-7 state berth, and 10 teams will go for the two spots up for grabs at this week's Cy Falls State Qualifying Tournament at Cy Falls High School.

The are 16 teams in the field at Cy Falls, and all start pool play at 9 a.m. Saturday, June 18, but six have already qualified for state and will not advance out of the pools.

"It's going to be a a great opportunity for some of these teams that have not clinched a trip to state," said Cy Falls coach Kirk Eaton, whose Golden Eagles have a state ticket in hand.

"The state qualifiers are split among the four pools and we'll see who can possibly get out and into the semifinals."

Pool A features state qualifiers Cy Falls and Tomball, along with Terry and Klein Collins, and in Pool B, A&M Consolidated and Langham Creek are state bound, and will compete against Cy Woods and Port Neches-Groves.

Jersey Village has a state berth and is in Pool C with Cypress Creek, Cypress Lakes and Katy, and Cy-Fair has a state spot wrapped up and is in Pool D with The Woodlands, Cypress Springs and Kingwood Park.

The semifinals are at 1 p.m., and the championship and consolation games are at 2 p.m.

"We'll look to fine tune things like the other teams that are already in the state field," Cy Falls 7-on-7 volunteer coach Les Brown said.

Along with the six at the Cy Falls event, area teams Channelview, La Marque Klein Oak, Lamar, Montgomery, Klein Forest, Cinco Ranch, Elkins, Dobie, Friendswood and Stratford have qualified for the 14th annual 7-on-7 Division I State Tournament for Class 5A and 4A schools on July 15-16 at Texas A&M University in College Station.

There's a SQT in Lewisville on Thursday, June 16, and along with Cy Falls, there are events at Abilene, Lufkins, Tyler, Wylie, San Antonio and Dulles on Saturday, June 18.

The final SQTs on June 25 are at Cinco Ranch, Lubbock, Rockwall, Mission and Hays Consolidated in Buda.

"It is coming down to the wire, and we're happy to be in," Eaton said. "It's all good because we don't change a thing for 7-on-7 like some teams do.

"For us, it's just doing what we're going to be doing during the regular season, and hopefully getting better at it."

Eaton took over for former Cy Falls head coach David Rayfield, who is now in charge at A&M Consolidated, which will be at the Cy Falls SQT this week and at the state tournament next month.

Cy Falls earned its state berth by winning the Cy Creek SQT on May 28.