PAC-6 Fields Five Squads in Beast of the Hill Tourney: Focus on Falcons

Courtesy Don Callahan

If you are interested in PAC-6 football, then this past Friday, the 4th Annual Beast of the Hill 7-on-7 tourney at the University of North Carolina was the place to be in attendance.  Five of the seven current members of the PAC-6 conference were participating, including Hillside, Person, Northern Durham, Jordan and East Chapel Hill. In an earlier post we discussed Hillside and their eventual run to the championship [Hillside and Wakefield Highlight UNC Beast of the Hill Tourney].  I was fortunate enough to get out in the 100 degree heat and take in most of the day and got to see a lot of squads in action including all five of the PAC-6 teams.  As I mentioned in the earlier post I was most impressed with the Hornets, but if you are fan of the PAC-6 or football in the area, then the prospect of some exciting football should make all fans excited to get the 2011 season underway.

The tournament was organized with four pods of six teams each and allowed for five games during the round-robin to establish a first and second place finisher.  The top teams from each pod were then moved to the elimination round in a four team championship.  The four second place finishers were placed in a lower level championship round to establish a second tier (lower flight) champion.  Both Hillside and East Chapel Hill moved through their pods undefeated, while Jordan tallied a 3-2 mark and both Northern Durham and Person finished at 1-4.  East Chapel Hill fell in the semifinals to Wakefield, while Jordan lost out on the chance to make either elimination bracket with a final round robin overtime loss to Hermitage High School out of Richmond, VA.  Both Northern and Person ended up near the bottom of their respective pods, but there were positives from both squads.

Jordan brought two squads to the event, an 'A' team and 'B' team comprised primarily of underclassmen and jayvee players.  The 'A' team was in a pod with eventual pod champ Hermitage (Richmond, VA), Leesville Road,  Great Bridge (Chesapeake, VA) and Northern Nash.  West Mecklenburg was also in the pod, but pulled out and provided each of the remaining five teams with a forfeit win.  The Falcons ended up 2-2 against the teams in attendance and 3-2 with the forfeit win against West Meck.  They opened up the tourney with an early morning loss to eventual lower level champ Leesville Road, 18-0 and followed it up with a 20-14 win over Great Bridge.  Prior to lunch they picked up another win against Northern Nash, 18-6, before falling in overtime to Hermitage in the final round robin game of the day.  The Falcons had a tough draw, with Leesville ending up with just one loss on the day to Hermitage in round-robin play and Hermitage going undefeated in round-robin play to eventually bow out in the semis of the championship tourney to an undefeated Hillside squad.

Hillside and Wakefield Highlight UNC Beast of the Hill Tourney

Courtesy Don Callahan

It didn't take long to recognize that the Hornets and Wolverines were two of the premier squads in attendance this past Friday at the 4th Annual Beast of the Hill 7-on-7 tournament at the University of North Carolina.  Teams were split into four pods of six schools and I was able to take in action for two of the pods somewhat simultaneously that included Hillside and Wakefield.  Both teams on first impression were head and shoulders above the competition within their respective brackets and I actually commented to one of the media members in attendance after watching a few games with each that they were in my opinion 1A and 1B at the event with the Wolverines probably taking the 1A nod.  Of course if I was correct with that early assessment I was even more correct when it ended up that both schools finished the round-robin portion of the tourney at 5-0 and went on to wins in the semi-finals, only to meet for the championship.  Where I was wrong - was that 1A and 1B once the dust settled as the Hornets knocked off the Wolverines late in the championship game with a score that moved them ahead after a back and forth contest that saw a number of ties before the Hornets took the 'ship, 27-21.

Before I expound a bit more on both of these schools, I'll mention that I hope to put another post up in the near future with a bit more about some of the other area schools that were in attendance...so stay tuned in.  It was a great event to check out a lot of local schools and it was also great because of how the event has progressed since it started in its current format four years ago.  Prior to the one-day 'Beast of the Hill' event, the University held a multi-day team camp and a number of schools from the local area as well as out-of-state routinely attended.  The format had group/position instruction and then afternoons and evenings filled with competitive 7-on-7 action.  Everyone typically had the opportunity to play everyone and near the end of the multi-day event, the top schools would face off and in a somewhat 'unofficial' way a school would be the champ.  There was a ton of coaching that went on and the athletes had a great time bonding over the multi-day event.  That was the past and now the one day event dominates the scene.  The Carolina staff had an incredibly organized event from the outside looking in and was treated to some quality competition that yielded two championship games that were decided by a single score after having the games tied late.  As an aside, Leesville Road captured the 'lower flight' championship and in the limited amount of time I was able to see them, looked to be chugging along as though nothing had changed for the Pride (and to be honest - I really don't think much has changed - and that can mean only good things for all those Leesville Loonies out there - y'all go crazy now!!)

For those that are familiar with Inside Carolina, you can grab a ton of information on this event and I've placed a link to an article by Don Callahan, one of the IC staff writers.  I'd also like to thank Don for allowing me to utilize some of his photos from the event -- greatly appreciated!  Hillside is Beast of the Hill (Don Callahan - Inside Carolina.com)

Now onto our impressions of Hillside and Wakefield...

Falcons Soaring in Summer Events as They Prep for 2011

Courtesy J.Clark

The offseason has gradually changed over the years from a time once consumed with building the strength of the program through consistent strength work to a multi-tiered and organized season unto itself. Augmenting a typically intense strength program are extensive conditioning sessions, agility and speed work, and focused skill-development that in many cases is periodically tested throughout the summer at passing league events.  In years past, these events were primarily of the 'friendly' variety where events were held at a local school and a number of programs would convene and work what they had installed with coaches on the field and copious amounts of time allowed between reps in order to coach-up their team.  Over the past five to ten years, more 'competitive' 7-on-7's have hit the scene and it is not unusual to see schools mix up their passing league schedule with a number of the more coachable events with one or two tournament-centric events.  Although both types of event have their positives, the latter of these two events is a great way to strengthen what has been installed during the summer, while adding a bit more 'game-like' pressure and feel in a more Friday Night Lights type environment.

Throughout this summer the Jordan Falcons have been a great example of one of our area teams that has taken part in a number of passing league events, spanning both genres.  The Falcons, coming off a 7-5 campaign in 2010 where they pushed one of the top teams from Fayetteville to the brink in the first round of the playoffs, are looking to gain momentum from the performance they put forth against 71st and transfer it to the upcoming 2011 season.  The continued maturation of the 2011 Falcons has been evident in how they've worked as a cohesive unit this summer in their passing leagues.  The Falcons have participated in a number of events at local high schools, including Carrboro High and Northern Vance, as well as travelling to Greensboro for the Holt Brothers Foundation 7-on-7 and more recently the 4th Annual UNC Beast of the Hill competition.  Reports from all of the events have been positive for the Falcons as they work to adjust in many ways to the loss of an extensive senior class that was highlighted by current Tarheel, T.J. Thorpe.

One of the more impressive showings by the Falcons came just about a month ago when they participated with a number of Triad teams in Torry and Terrence Holt's Annual 7-on-7 Tournament.  More details on the Holt Foundation and associated camp and tournament can be found in a previous article [Falcons Invade Holt Brothers 7-on-7].  The Falcons, after going 4-0-1 at the Carrboro event just prior to the Holt Tourney turned in a solid performance from all accounts in posting an undefeated record and capturing the championship.  The Falcons picked up wins against George Washington Danville High School (Virginia), Greensboro Page, Eastern Guilford, Southern Alamance and Burlington Cummings.

After the event I was able to catch up with two of the rising seniors for the Falcons, Jeff Clark and Nick Drew.  Clark will be one of the wide receivers stepping into a more prominent role offensively with the departure of Thorpe, while Drew will be looking to lock-down half of the field as one of the cornerbacks on the Falcons roster.