Broncos Football Participates In 7 On 7

The Broncos’ football team won’t start training camps until July 5, but the seven-on-seven competition at Barrington’s Community Stadium on June 23 continued to give Barrington head coach Joe Sanchez the feeling that the Broncos already have started their 2011-12 season.

“We’re not in full-fledged camp, but it sure feels like it,” Sanchez said of the last couple of busy weeks.  “Essentially, the day after school, we passed out equipment for summer, held our first seven-on-seven practices a couple of days later, and had our first seven-on-seven last week.”

Barrington’s first series of pre-training camp games came June 18 at Carmel. The Broncos took to the field and were able to scrimmage against the Corsairs, Marion Central and Antioch High School with very positive results evident.

“It was good and we are real happy with our progress,” said Sanchez of the scrimmages.  “You just like to see where you are at, and this helps.”

The Broncos hope to continue building on last year’s success and hope these early season camps are just the ticket to get them deep into the playoffs. 

“When you have as many kids back that got a taste (of last season’s success), it’s pretty exciting,” said Sanchez, who is beginning his 10th year as head coach.  “We have a nice veteran group with a mixture of some good new kids coming up.”

Barrington began last year’s season by winning its first seven games that had them ranked fifth in the state for 8A football. They ended the season in stark contrast by losing three straight, including a heartbreaking 35-28 loss to Glenbrook South in the opening round of the IHSA 8A playoffs.  Barrington also lost out on a division title with back-to-back losses to end the regular season against MSL rivals Fremd and Palatine, respectively.

“The last three weeks (of the season) certainly wasn’t the way the first seven weeks went,” Sanchez said.  “But we are excited to be back out here.”

The Broncos ended their seven-on-seven summer competitions by hosting three different schools – Naperville North, Lake Park and MSL East opponent Rolling Meadows – and utilized the opportunity for progress.

“From an offensive standpoint, these games are about getting timing and working out some of the kinks early; while defensively, these kids will learn coverages and the interior of this game, and how that piece fits in” to the game, Sanchez said of the benefits of the mini games. “There is an element you can gauge from this, but the reality is, until you put the helmets and shoulder pads on, you don’t really know what you have.”

Although seven-on-seven is played with neither pads nor helmets, Sanchez views the risk of injury essentially the same as during the regular season, and therefore the team continues to take similar precautions.

“There is always a concern of injury,” Sanchez said.  “That element is always there, but we have been real fortunate in that we haven’t really had any major injuries.”

The scrimmage also seems like a risky move considering the potential to tip future plays.  However, Sanchez wasn’t concerned with that scenario.

“It is still too early to worry about (tipping plays),” Sanchez, who was named the Chicago Bear’s Coach of the Week (week six), said. “Like a lot of programs we’re just trying to see what works and suits our kids best.” 

But one scenario Sanchez does like and already sees developing is the team’s chemistry.

“What is really nice about this group is the team has a good sense of camaraderie,” said Sanchez of some of the team dynamics that have been unfolding over the past few weeks.  “There is always competition at the different positions, but everyone is just trying to do the best they can and put there best foot forward to help the team.”

The Broncos will begin their training camp on July 5 and will have it continue throughout the month.