THE VILLAGES, Fla. – The 2022 Florida High School 7v7 Association State Tournament in its eighth overall year proved to be the most challenging of them all – but in the end a new champion for the first time since 2019 was crowned in the two-day event featuring nearly 50 programs from all corners of the Sunshine State.
With it being the last weekend of June, the event consisted of two days of pool play action and a single-elimination bracket tournament to determine a state champion was marred to a degree by thunderstorms on Friday afternoon that sent the afternoon flight to hotel rooms in the area to wait and determine if they would get to play the rest of their scheduled matchups.
Instead, the afternoon flight got to play a new schedule of pool play games on Saturday morning before the single-elimination tournament started that saw some surprises including both Ocala Forest and Port St. Lucie Centennial making deep runs that were not expected while one team, Tallahassee Florida High was shockingly eliminated early on by Orlando Bishop Moore.
While all that was going on the linemen were competing in the FHS7V7A Battlelines State Championship that saw a record number of teams compete with 17 teams involved this year including some new competitions thrown into the mix.
One of those new competitions was the Truck Pull which consisted of the linemen pulling a RAM 1500 pickup truck to show the strength of the linemen that the programs brought.
At the end of the tournament Jacksonville Terry Parker was able to come away as the winner of the 2022 FHS7V7A Battlelines Champions with 17 points with Lake City Columbia finishing second with 15 points, which is something Battlelines Director Josh Palmer said almost didn’t happen when the Tigers’ linemen were ready to throw the towel in despite being so close. Mount Dora’s linemen group finished third with 14 points overall.
And back on the fields with the single eliminate tournament it came down to the final four teams of Sanford Seminole, St. Augustine, Ocala Vanguard, and Port St. Lucie Centennial to set the matchup for the state championship which consensus early on among the media suggested potentially a rematch between Vanguard, the defending state champion of the last two tournaments.
However, the consensus would be all for naught when St. Augustine pulled off the stunner against Vanguard in the semifinals with a 24-19 win while Seminole escaped with a 14-9 victory over Centennial.
In the State Championship, Seminole quickly made a statement when it picked off St. Augustine on the first play and then saw Luke Rucker take the first possession down the field to take an early 10-0 lead in the game. With games only lasting 20 minutes on a 40-yard field time was certainly no on the Yellow Jackets’ side as they would not get a score on their second drive despite driving them down into the red zone where Seminole pumped the brakes on any points.
In fact, Seminole would take a 17-0 lead before St. Augustine would finally get any points on the board late in the game cutting the score to 17-6. Seminole would get one last score to go up 24-6 before St. Augustine in a desperate attempt to get more points would score near the end of the game to make it 24-14 before the game clock ran out.
SWAG INCLUDED
All players that attended both the FHS7V7A State Championship Tournament and the FHS7V7A Battlelines Tournament received free shirts compliments of Jaguars Prep who was on-site the entire weekend interacting with athletes and included tickets for the winner to a preseason Jaguars home game in August as well as scoutSmart who handed out water bottles to participants.
DID YOU KNOW: Over 1,250 shirts were given away by @Jaguars Prep at the 2022 @FHS7v7A Tournament. @tparkerfootball which won the 2022 @BattleLinesFL Championship, can be seen here, plus other teams holding up their shirts! Huge shoutout to @Adriel_Rocha for everything he does! pic.twitter.com/KE0cGz8v0u
— FloridaHSFootball.com (@FlaHSFootball) June 30, 2022
NOTE: Both Jaguars Prep and scoutSmart are also sponsors of FloridaHSFootball.com.
BATTLELINES SPEAK
Josh Palmer of the FHS7V7A Battlelines Competition speaks to FloridaHSFootball.com regarding the 2022 Tournament and the success it had:
STATE CHAMPIONSHIP SPEAK
Will Dettor of the FHS7V7A and Sanford Seminole Head Coach Eric Lodge speak to FloridaHSFootball.com regarding the success Seminole had to win the 2022 State Championship:
FRIDAY MORNING FLIGHT RESULTS
9:00 AM
South Sumter 20, South Lake 0
Wildwood 26, Forest 12
Plant Black 25, Vanguard 20
Steinbrenner 21, Plant Gold 20
Sanford Seminole 31, Umatilla 9
Gaither 20, Oak Ridge 7
Columbia 21, Mount Dora 6
West Orange 17, Lake Buena Vista 13
Bishop Moore 15, Flagler Palm Coast 7
Eustis 18, Santa Fe 15
Wiregrass Ranch 27, The Villages 13
9:30 AM
South Sumter 14, Forest 13
Plant Black 17, South Lake 0
Wildwood 26, Umatilla 12
Vanguard 25, Steinbrenner 6
Plant Gold 28, Oak Ridge 12
Sanford Seminole 25, Mount Dora 0
Gaither 27, Eustis 13
Columbia 13, Bishop Moore 6
Lake Buena Vista 21, Santa Fe 19
Wiregrass Ranch 17, Flagler Palm Coast 16
The Villages 18, West Orange 13
10:00 AM
Plant Black 16, South Sumter 13
Steinbrenner 13, Forest 12
South Lake 12, Umatilla 9
Wildwood 13, Oak Ridge 9
Vanguard 16, Columbia 10
Eustis 20, Plant Gold 6
Sanford Seminole 16, Bishop Moore 12
Gaither 30, Santa Fe 9
Wiregrass Ranch 26, Mount Dora 0
Lake Buena Vista 21, The Villages 6
West Orange 18, Flagler Palm Coast 12
11:00 AM
Steinbrenner 22, South Sumter 13
Plant Black 35, Umatilla 16
Oak Ridge 22, Forest 6
Wildwood 21, Eustis 9
Vanguard 13, Bishop Moore 7
Santa Fe 17, Plant Gold 7
Sanford Seminole 26, Wiregrass Ranch 0
Gaither 29, The Villages 12
West Orange 17, Columbia 15
Flagler Palm Coast 19, Lake Buena Vista 15
11:30 AM
South Sumter 12, Umatilla 11
Oak Ridge 27, Steinbrenner 19
Plant Black 37, Mount Dora 6
Eustis 14, Forest 13
Bishop Moore 14, South Lake 0
Wildwood 20, Santa Fe 6
Vanguard 19, Wiregrass Ranch 9
Plant Gold 29, The Villages 16
Sanford Seminole 18, West Orange 17
Gaither 19, Flagler Palm Coast 12
Columbia 38, Lake Buena Vista 0
FRIDA AFTERNOON FLIGHT RESULTS (SATURDAY MORNING)
8:00 AM
Centennial 21, Melbourne 3
Florida High 19, Palmetto 13
St. Augustine 14, Mosley 10
Estero 15, Sebring 6
St. Petersburg Northeast 26, Palm Bay 7
Terry Parker 18, Sebastian River 12
East Lake 28, Seffner Christian 6
Parrish Community 9, St. Cloud 6
Zephyrhills Christian 27, Wellington 18
River Ridge 26, Leesburg 0
8:30 AM
Melbourne 41, Mosley 12
St. Augustine 14, Centennial 9
Florida High 18, Estero 13
Palmetto 15, St. Petersburg Northeast 6
Sebring 22, Palm Bay 6
East Lake 18, Terry Parker 13
Sebastian River 9, Parrish Community 0
River Ridge 28, Wellington 12
Seffner Christian 19, St. Cloud 7
Zephyrhills Christian 13, Leesburg 0
9:00 AM
St. Augustine 17, Melbourne 12
Mosley 18, Estero 13
St. Petersburg Northeast 15, Centennial 12
Palm Bay 20, Florida High 14
Palmetto 20, East Lake 9
Sebring 13, Parrish Community 9
Terry Parker 23, Wellington 21
River Ridge 19, Sebastian River 6
Leesburg 14, Seffner Christian 12
Zephyrhills Christian 12, St. Cloud 10
SINGLE ELIMINATION TOURNAMENT RESULTS
FIRST ROUND
Flagler Palm Coast 14, Oak Ridge 0
Mosley 13, St. Cloud 7
Palm Bay 14, Santa Fe 111
South Lake 10, Mount Dora 9
Forest 22, The Villages 14
Wellington 24, Leesburg 23
SECOND ROUND
River Ridge 21, Flagler Palm Coast 7
Plant Gold 32, Wiregrass Ranch 14
Sebring 23, Estero 15
Ocala Vanguard 26, Seffner Christian 12
Mosley 23, Zephyrhills Christian 19
Bishop Moore 17, Florida High 7
East Lake 27, Parrish Community 9
St. Augustine 21, Palm Bay 20
Sanford Seminole 29, South Lake 10
Columbia 35, Eustis 6
Palmetto 20, Sebastian River 13
Plant Black 32, Melbourne 0
Forest 20, Wildwood 19
Steinbrenner 27, Terry Parker 14
Centennial 23, St. Petersburg Northeast 10
Gaither 26, Wellington 20
THIRD ROUND
Plant Gold 18, River Ridge 13
Vanguard 33, Sebring 26
Bishop Moore 28, Mosley 12
St. Augustine 23, East Lake 21
Sanford Seminole 26, Columbia 6
Palmetto 27, Plant Black 14
Forest 23, Steinbrenner 14
Centennial 19, Gaither 14
FOURTH ROUND
Vanguard 36, Plant Gold 18
St. Augustine 27, Bishop Moore 24
Sanford Seminole 33, Palmetto 6
Centennial 19, Ocala Forest 16
SEMIFINALS
St. Augustine 24, Vanguard 19
Sanford Seminole 14, Centennial 9
CHAMPIONSHIP
Sanford Seminole 24, St. Augustine 14
