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7-on-7 narrowly misses state qualification

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By Sam Waller

Albany’s 7-on-7 team came up one play short of qualifying for state Friday, June 10 at the Abilene Division III State Qualifying Tournament.

After advancing out of pool play, Albany lost 13-12 to Miles on a failed conversion attempt in one of two games that determined state qualifiers. The State 7-on-7 Tournament is scheduled June 23-25 at College Station.

The Abilene tournament was Albany’s only outing in 7-on-7 this year because of the number of players involved in Albany’s extended baseball playoff run.

“That’s a good problem to have,” 7-on-7 coach Kevin Hill said. “I don’t doubt that if we’d gotten another tournament under our belt, we would have been able to qualify.”

Albany has qualified for state four times since 2015, last advancing in 2021.

The Abilene tournament had 16 teams in four pools. Six entries had already qualified for state and were not eligible to advance to bracket play.

Playing in Pool C at Field House Sports, Albany lost 21-20 to previously qualified Dublin, then defeated Jacksboro 26-20 and Roscoe 26-13.

“We played well, but we had to shake off quite a bit of rust,” Hill said. “Some kids played out of position offensively and defensively just because of the numbers we had.”

Among the issue’s Albany faced was the absence of quarterback Cole Chapman. London Fuentes and Lute Wheeler alternated at quarterback in his place.

“When London is playing quarterback, it removes one of our better receivers,” Hill said. “He’s a down-the-field threat that we just didn’t have.”

Hill said Albany was able to successfully integrate returning players with those who played junior varsity last fall.

“Obviously, the older kids like Coy Lefevre, Adam Hill, and Keatin Russell played well,” he said. “Some of the younger kids who don’t have varsity experience, like Cason Fairchild and Branson Beal, did a very good job.”

Another highlight was Albany’s defensive performance.

“The longer the day went, the stronger our defense played,” Hill said. “It’s hard to shut down some of the teams we faced. Our defense played really well.”