NCHS Football Team Looks Sharp In 7-on-7 Tournament

On Saturday, New Canaan High School hosted a 7-0n-7 touch football tournament featuring 13 high school squads from Connecticut and Westchester.

The tournament started at 8:30 a.m. and didn't conclude until 2:30 p.m., all teams played at least five games, the finalists played seven. The 25-minute games were played at Dunning Stadium, the water tower turf field, the water tower grass field and the track grass infield.

7-on-7 touch football is played without pads or helmets. Linemen have the day off. Touch football is for quarterbacks, eligible receivers on offense, and for linebackers and defensive backs.

The offense starts at the opponents' 40-yard line and has four chances to earn a first down. The quarterback has four seconds to throw the ball and a sack results when the whistle blows after the allotted time. Every sack equals the loss of a down.

Each play is a pass play with only five receivers eligible. A touch by just one hand below the shoulders ends the play. No blocking is permitted.

The 13 teams that competed were New Canaan, Darien, Central, Bassick, Fairfield Warde, Masuk, Stamford, Iona, Brookefield, Trumbull,Weston, Canterbury and Westhill.

Each team played four games, broke for lunch and then moved into the playoff round where it was single elimination.  Trumbull was the winner for the second year in a row, beating New Canaan in the championship game three touchdowns to two.

Rams' Coach Lou Marinelli was very pleased with his teams' performance.

"A lot of guys played well. Cameron Armstrong, Kevin Maccari and Patrick Newton came up with some outstanding grabs—Armstrong also had four interceptions on the day—and Matt Milano was solid at quarterback," said Marinelli.

It also gave Coach Marinelli a chance to see a lot of players under near-game conditions while making allowances for the absence of blocking and tackling.

The Rams opened the tournament with wins over Central, Bassick and Masuk before losing to Trumbull. 

After the lunch break, they beat Stamford in the quarterfinal playoff round, Darien in the semi-finals and then lost to Trumbull for the second time in the title game.

Coaches like the 7-on-7 format, especially in the explanation of the rules where caps are used in saying, "AVOID CONTACT!"

A few players got cramps late in the competition but that was the extent of injuries. 

The tournament gave teams the opportunity to execute quick huddles in a pass- only offense and while there were no pads worn and no blocking, good hands, speed, quarterback accuracy and arm strength as well run pass routes were on display.

On the subject of passing, Milano was recently voted "Most Accurate Quarterback" at the teams' recent trip to the University of Maryland — in which a number of schools participated. College coaches in attendance as well as some of the Maryland coaches did the voting.

The Rams  will have more 7-on-7's this summer along with their two-day-a-week workouts. Next week's workouts will feature agility drills on Tuesday followed by speed drills on Friday.