Wharton, Freedom Cut Teeth at USF Sling and Shoot

The University of South Florida hosted its 7-on-7 high school football passing tournament this past weekend, July 21-22. Here's a look at how New Tampa schools performed.

Wharton High School:

The Wildcats are veterans of the summer 7-on-7 circuit and typically show well. In 2012, they picked up where they left off.

Even with replacing their top three receivers and running back from last year, they still are a formidable 7-on-7 team. They gave BCP champion East Lake another run for its money, but came up just short. The Wildcats split their games, going 3-3 on Saturday with wins against Wiregrass Ranch, Lowndes and Lee. They lost a close one to Dwyer towards the end of the day, then just fell flat, losing to Plant2 to end the day Saturday.

On Sunday, the Wildcats were in their zone. They blasted through their last two group games. They evened the score with Dwyer, knocking them out in the second round of elimination play. Then they drew their nemesis East Lake in the third round of elimination. Senior Keith Hopkins caught a long touchdown pass to put the Cats up 26-20 with less than a minute to play. With seconds ticking away, East Lake senior quarterback Pete DiNovo found sophomore George Campbell for a touchdown. The extra point set the Wildcats packing up their tents.

The Wharton secondary looked very good in competition. They were one of the few teams that could keep up with the East Lake receivers, and they looked to be a formidable group. 

"We could throw a lot of looks at you this year," said defensive coordinator Kiwaukee Thomas. "We could go two safeties with senior Everett Madsen or just one with Hargreaves."

Senior Vernon Hargreaves III has moved to safety for 7-on-7 competition but Thomas indicated that is something that could translate into the regular season.

"Vernon is able to defend both slot receivers and guard the deep middle of the field when he's out there," he said.

Other bright spots were Hopkins' play at corner while running backs senior Deon Sampson and junior Jeff Keil were prolific at hauling in touchdowns all tournament long.

Freedom High School:

The Patriots are in their first year of 7-on-7 competition and lost all of their pool games at the BCP a week ago, yet they won their first few games at the USF Sling and Shoot.

They wrapped group play strong but were bounced in the first round of elimination.

The Patriots still show a lot of promise. Cornerstone players seniors Nate Godwin and Isaac Tanner can play both ways and impact plays on either side.

The surprise of the tournament was Wharton transfer DJ Grant. Grant transferred in hopes he might be able to land a quarterback gig. However, junior Taylor King seems to have command of that role. King started all of the Patriots games but Grant proved a legitimate threat at receiver, hauling in a deep touchdown that clinched the pool game against Tampa Bay Tech.