PEARCY -- Lakeside forced five consecutive turnovers by the Nashville Scrappers on its way to winning, 23-16, in the finals of the second annual Live Like Bryce 7-on-7 tournament hosted at Lake Hamilton's Wolf Stadium Friday.
The Rams were undefeated in pool play before defeating Hot Springs and Mineral Springs during bracket play.
"I thought we had a really good day," Lakeside head coach Jared McBride said. "Our kids competed well. We had some good tight ballgames, which are always good compete in the end to finish. I thought it showed that we were in really good shape and finish the tournament with the win."
Nashville got off to a strong start in the finals, taking eight plays to find the end zone on a five-yard touchdown pass from Jake Moorer to Kalob Carpenter to take a 7-0 lead.
Lakeside's Taylor Gillham wasted no time in leveling the score, finding Issac Echols on a 40-yard touchdown pass on the first play from scrimmage.
Nashville again took the lead, scoring another touchdown on its next possession before holding the Rams to just three plays without a first down for a turnover.
Lakeside's defense responded, intercepting a pass from Moorer, but the Rams turning the ball over once again. They then forced what was the first of five consecutive turnovers for the Scrappers.
"Our kids are very consistent," McBride said. "They're playing well together right now, and hopefully it carries over into our season and we're able to continue to play good football."
Gillham found Richard Gaston for another 40-yard touchdown pass on the Rams' next possession to put the team up, 16-14, before the second turnover brought the half to a close.
Nashville's L.D. Hendrix picked off a Gillham pass to knot the score early in the second half, but three plays later, the ball went back to the Lakeside offense. Gillham worked the ball down the field before connecting with Fleming on a 27-yard pass to put the Rams ahead, 23-16.
"Our kids played really well on the back end and communicated," McBride said of his team's defense. "They reacted to the ball well and played hard. You've got to give our defense credit for the win there."
Lake Hamilton head coach Tommy Gilleran said the tournament went well with a good response from the community.
"I think for the Bryce Briggs family, it's a big deal because they love 7-on-7 because their son played it," Gilleran said. "They enjoy this. I think its a good thing for their foundation for them to have a chance to continue to grow and give other people money for that but also to have a chance to reflect what their son lived like. We love that kind of stuff. Hopefully, we can continue to do something good for them and the community here."
Gilleran said the coaches were also very positive about the tournament.
"I think everybody liked the tournament and said they'd be back," he said. "Overall, I think it was a really good tournament for us and for them. They all loved it."
The Wolves fell in the quarterfinals to Fountain Lake, 28-21, in a game that needed five overtime periods to determine a winner.
"One of the plays, our free safety was over on the sideline, and nobody was in the middle of the field," Gilleran said of the game. "The last play of the game (for Fountain Lake), for some reason, our free safety let him catch it. That's not only his fault, but that's all of them. They've got to make better plays and do better things. That's part of it. We've just got to continue to get better."
Gilleran said he felt his team performed well overall.
"I thought we competed well," he said. "With the run-based offense like we have, if we're successful at this stuff, it makes us a little better. We've just got to work on some things and get better, and we'll be successful on those type of things. We had some breakdowns defensively, and offensively, too, but we're a run-based offense.
"For us, this kind of stuff is making it better for our secondary having to work on coverages because we don't run this kind of stuff. We've got to continue to work those things out. That's why we only do two a year because, in all reality, team camps are better for us, so we can see what we can do with blocking and running and things like that."
Fountain Lake fell in the semifinals to Nashville, coming back from a deficit of 16 points to finish 27-22.
"Everybody is tired this time of day," said Cobra head coach J.D. Plumlee. "That's what we were telling our kids. ...We came back and made it a one-possession game. I'm proud of our guys to fight through this heat and finish the day strong."
Plumlee said he was pleased with his team's performance.
"I thought our kids competed. We came out and went 3-0, then Lakeside beat us to end pool play. We dropped a couple wide-open balls that game, too. Then we had lunch and came back out. We had Lake Hamilton right off the bat, and ... it was crazy back-and-forth. Their kids were making plays; our kids were making plays.
"Any time you can go out and throw and catch in a competitive situation, you're going to get work on timing, route running. Defensively, I love 7-on-7, because you have to play the ball in the air. You've got to communicate out there to safeties and flying to the ball and using your hands and being active."
Hot Springs struggled in the tournament, but first year head coach Darrell Burnett saw some things he liked from his players, despite only having worked with them for four days.
"We've just got to coach them up," Burnett said. "That's the biggest thing. You can't point the finger at the kids. We've just got to teach them how -- what they're doing, why they're doing it and how. They don't know that right now.
"It's a process. We've got a good group of kids. There wasn't a lot of playing; there wasn't a lot of joking around. They actually care."
Youth and inexperience are two of the biggest issues Burnett is fighting with his new team.
"We got a lot of youngsters that are out here trying to compete," he said. "It ain't their fault; they just don't know how yet. It's on us. We've just got to teach them. We're still going over the basics. We're not all there as far as football; we're still working on how to get in stance, how to run off the field, how to be a good teammate, stuff you should learn in seventh grade.
"That's where we're at right now, but we've got some kids that care. The standards -- we've got to change the standards and the mindset. Are your standards going to be just giving effort or are your standards going to be winning? That's the big thing. I'm not even worried about the X's and O's. We've got to get this losing mentality out of these kids. It's frustrating, but we'll get it done."
Sports on 07/14/2018