Wharton Wildcats Tear into 7 on 7 Tournament

The BCP 9 Route 7 on 7 Tournament was a wild tournament for the Wildcats; one that proved their mettle, at least the mettle of their skill players. The offense lit up every team they played and the touchdowns were spread so evenly around that it's a little bit to get excited about.

7 on 7 competition is where the quarterback and six backs and receivers plant against seven defenders in what looks like a pickup game of football. Two-handed touch downs the ball carrier and a four-second count simulates defensive pressure. Once the four seconds are up, the play is whistled dead.

The Wildcats opened up pool play on Friday against Bloomingdale, dropping them 24-12. Their second game against Middleton went similarly, 26-12. They lost a close one to Plant City in the third group game 26-20, but bounced back with a win against Tarpon Springs 30-26 to finish group play 3-1.

On Saturday, they drew Bloomingdale again as they were seeded in the top four and Bloomingdale in the bottom four. They beat them again 24-13, capped by a Roman Thompson pick-six. 

Oddly enough, they drew Tarpon Springs again, and again they beat them; this time 31-26. They were lifted by a late-game touchdown catch by junior Vernon Hargreaves. 

The Wildcats were hitting their stride by the third Saturday game and trounced Lakewood 34-13. Big plays from Hargreave, senior Nyere Thompson and junior Rocky Enos. They hit a wall when they came up against Plant but stayed with them, suffering a 26-20 loss that moved them into the one-loss bracket and in danger of being eliminated.

They squashed that danger by thumping a Tampa Bay Tech team 30-13. Newcomer Britton Lewis proved himself a legitimate threat in that game, catching the last touchdown.

Wharton made the finals and guess who was waiting for them?

The Wildcats could have just not showed up on Sunday afternoon and everyone would have understood. They were coming in with one loss and Plant had none. Thus, Wharton would actually have to beat Plant twice to win the title. 

The plan was if Wharton won, they would take a ten-minute break and play again. No one thought Wharton had any chance at this. Plant cruised to eight straight victories, stepping up when challenged and getting it done with backups against softer teams. 

No one thought they could do it except the Wharton Wildcats.

They scored on their first drive on a catch by Nyere Thompson but Plant came back with a touchdown of their own. Darius Page scored for them on their next drive but Plant came back again with a score of their own. On the next drive Vernon Hargreaves made a dazzling catch to put the Cats up again, but again Plant combined Antonio Crawford and Wesley Bullock catches to score another touchdown. 

Plant missed two extra points and Wharton missed one, so Wharton led 20-19 at the half. 

Plant came out in the second half and scored off a Bullock grab. Wharton came back with a long reception from Vernon Hargreaves. Plant brought Paris Bostick in from defense and he scored a touchdown to make it 33-26.

Plant got the first stop of the game by intercepting sophomore Chase Litton on the next possession, then scored on another Bostick touchdown grab. 

That pushed it out to 40-26 and again, no one would have blinked if Wharton just packed up and admitted defeat.

They were not about to.

Litton found Hargreave for another touchdown and the Wildcat defense stopped Plant at the goal line. 

Then, Litton found senior Jaylen Dinard for a touchdown to cut the lead to two points. In the biggest play of the game up to that point, Litton found Nyere Thompson in the end zone for the two-point conversion to send the game into overtime tied at 40.

Overtime is handled like college overtime. Each team gets a set of downs from the fifteen-yard line to try and score and get a one or two-point conversion. 

Plant started with the ball and got one in with Derreck Mann, went for one point and missed it. Wharton took over and got their score from Darius Page but Plant's Antonio Crawford made a great play that saved the game for Plant and broke up the extra point that would have won the game.

Overtime ended 46-46.

The second overtime opened with Wharton scoring on a leaping catch from Vernon Hargreaves. This time they elected to put the pressure on Plant and go for two. Plant got their touchdown, again at the hands of Derreck Mann but they came up short on their two point conversion and lost to an elated Wharton team 54-52.

The teams took a 10-minute break and went back at it in game two.

Wharton led off with a touchdown to Britton Lewis and missed the point after. Plant again found Mann for the touchdown and got the extra point to go up 7-6.

Then Plant broke serve on Wharton and stopped them three and out. They then scored on a corner route to Avery Jordan.

Again Wharton bounced back and scored on another fantastic catch from Hargreaves. They added the two-point conversion on a Britton Lewis catch to tie the game at 14.

They just could not stop Plant's passing attack. Plant scored again on a KJ Walker catch and settled for one extra point. Wharton moved the ball but faced a fourth and goal as time was winding down. Nyere Thompson got in the end zone but the point after was caught out of bounds and the Wildcats were looking at a 21-20 deficit. 

Plant's Austin Aiken, who had been quiet most of the game, came up big on the next drive grabbing a ball as he leapt across the back of the end zone for the touchdown. Plant went for the kill when they lined up to go for two as the clock wound down. An illegal snap moved the ball back five more yards to jack up the suspense even more. 

Plant snapped the ball and Aaron Banks found KJ Walker again to make it 29-20 and put the game out of reach. Wharton got the ball with a few seconds left but there was no way for them to score nine points.

They played their guts out against a nationally ranked team and they have a lot to be proud of.

"It was really helpful for me, making reads and finding out who we have that can make plays," said Litton."It really helped us figure out what we need to work on for the fall."

"It made me feel good about when we finally do put the pads on," added Page. "It helped my confidence, being able to catch and run routes."

An official rivalry was hatched Sunday afternoon between the Panthers and Wildcats. Now that they are in the same district it should blossom into some beautiful bad blood.