St. Cloud wins inaugural Florida HS 7v7 Association Regional Qualifier

EDITOR’S NOTE: This is a story from last weekend’s FHS 7v7 Regional Tournament. We apologize for the lateness of this story being posted.

PALM COAST – Last weekend’s FHS7v7A Regional Qualifier in Palm Coast was a thriller as New Smyrna Beach drove down to the goal line in the final seconds of the championship game, but was stopped short by a stingy St. Cloud defense on the one foot line. St. Cloud finished the day with 6-1 record, a Regional Championship Title and Trophy and a bid to the 2015 FHS7v7A State Championship Tournament on June 27.

St. Cloud head coach Bryan Smart said, “It was a great day for our players and our program. They competed and they fought, and they came out on top.” There is no doubt his St. Cloud team competed and fought as they finished pool play earlier in the day with a 3-1 record, but based on a tiebreaker, came out of pool play seed 4^th going into single elimination.

In a great day for 7v7 football in Palm Coast at Indian Trails Athletic Complex, teams across the state of Florida competed for the Regional Championship and a bid to the State Championship Tournament. FHS7v7A Member Teams in attendance included Baker County, Crescent City, Orlando Olympia, New Smyrna Beach, Deltona Trinity Christian, Matanzas and St. Cloud.

The day started out with pool play competition which lasted until about 1:00 p.m. and then after a short intermission, teams retook the field for single elimination bracket play. During the intermission, players got a chance to show some of their individual skills by competing in a 40 yd dash Fast Man contest and a quarterback longest throw competition. Jacquae Harper of St. Cloud took home the Fast Man title along with a case of MAX Aerosol Paint courtesy of Pioneer Athletics for his head coach and program. Joe Milton of Olympia won the longest throw competition after a tiebreaker with a Baker County QB, and for his 56 yard throw. Fans and participants were entertained throughout the by DJ Darrell Polite and participants got to take advantage of much needed hydration between games, courtesy of Body Armor Super Drink.

First round matchups included Olympia vs. Crescent City, with Olympia prevailing in overtime, New Smyrna vs. Deltona Trinity, with New Smyrna moving on to the second round and St. Cloud vs. Baker County, with New Smyrna moving on after a hard fought win.

After a first round bye, top seeded Matanzas faced St. Cloud in the 2^nd round. After solid drives by both teams, St. Cloud defeated Matanzas and moved onto the Championship Round. New Smyrna battled Olympia back and forth from start to finish in their second round shootout, with New Smyrna Beach edging Olympia setting up the Championship Round Shootout. As mentioned earlier, both teams battled in a thriller that saw St. Cloud score to go ahead with only 43 seconds left in the game. New Smyrna wasn’t done though, and they too drove down to threaten to score, but came up just short on the one foot line as time expired.

The top 4 teams received bids and will move on to meet again on June 27^th for the 2015 FHS7v7A State Championship, with the winning team taking home the trophy and a 2015-2016 Complimentary Season Pass for their program, courtesy of SkyCoach side line replay systems. Those teams include St. Cloud, New Smyrna Beach, Orlando Olympia, and Matanzas. The Florida High School 7v7 Association would like to thank its sponsors, who without them, this event and Association wouldn’t be possible. FHS7v7A Sponsors include BSN Sports, Pioneer Athletics, Body Armor Super Drink, SkyCoach, and GameBreaker Helmets. The FHS7v7A would also like to thank the Palm Coast Parks and Recreation Department, the City of Palm Coast and the Matanzas Booster Club, who brought in over $1000 for their fundraising efforts as host of this event.