New U. City Coach Gets Peek at Future in 7-on-7 Football Tourney

A 7-on-7 football tournament is the perfect opportunity to showcase the quarterbacks. It can also be a good testing ground for new coaches.

There were plenty of each on display Saturday at De Smet Jesuit High School.

The St. Louis Metropolitan Football Coaches Association held its inaugural 7-on-7 tourney at De Smet with 23 teams from Missouri and Illinois participating.

Top area quarterbacks like Dalton Demos of Christian Brothers College, Gateway Tech’s Paul Rice, Ladue’s Brandon Carr, De Smet’s Conner Harrison, Fort Zumwalt West’s Drew Hare and Lindbergh’s Peter Simpson all aired it out without having to worry about getting hit by an oncoming rush.

The tournament was two-hand touch, played without pads and had no rushing attempts.

“The biggest thing is that the quarterbacks get work,” De Smet coach Pat Mahoney said.

In addition to the quarterbacks, there were also plenty of new coaches at new schools. Wentzville Holt, University City, Brentwood, Lutheran St. Charles, Columbia Hickman, Alton, Belleville West and Gateway Tech all have someone new to lead the program. That made Saturday’s 30-minute games even that much more important.

“It’s important for us to get our repetitions,” said University City coach Carl Reed. “We’ve got to get our timing together throwing the ball.

“We’ve been up and down, and we’re nowhere near where we need to be, but we’re further along than I thought we’d be at this point.

The Lions will try to pass the ball more, scrapping the power run offense for the spread formation. U. City, which went 1-3 and lost in the first round of the Silver Division, opens against Parkway West on Aug. 26. While Saturday was productive for the passing game, with August will come the addition of pads, linemen and the running game.

“The game will really change when you put those linemen out there on both sides of the ball,” Reed said.

Picking up an event that had been previously been held in one form at Columbia high schools Hickman and Rock Bridge, Mahoney said his school made sense because of its location and facilities.

“Everybody runs 7s, but the difference maker is that they’re not as competitive,” Mahoney said. “Here you’ve got a lot of teams; you’ve got people you’re going to see later in the year, so the competition level rises. Now you get a little more game situations and get to do some coaching on the field.”

Fort Zumwalt West was the overall champion, defeating Gateway Tech in the Gold Division title game. Gateway had beaten West in pool play in a 47-45 shootout. Ladue beat Alton, 26-14, for the Silver Division title, and Cardinal Ritter defeated Belleville West, 27-14, to win the Bronze Division.