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Football: Hawks go 2-2 at Red Bull Game Breakers national tourney
By Justin Thomas, jthomas@starlocalnews.com
DALLAS -- When Hebron's football team departs for College Station Friday and Saturday to compete in the 2012 Division I 7-on-7 State Championships, they will do so with plenty of experience gained during the summer.
Not only did the Hawks advance to state by excelling in local qualifiers, they will head south following a weekend competing at the Red Bull Game Breakers National Tournament at Jesuit.
Hebron reached the final tournament after finishing second to Cedar Hill June 29 at a regional qualifier also held at Jesuit.
But when asked as to which tournament carried more weight, Hebron running back Dezmond Wortham wasn't leaning either way.
"Can we win both of them?" the senior running back asked. "That's the plan. We don't want to go into either tournament just to be average. We want to come out on top and win both. That would give us a lot of respect and is something that we could carry over to show teams we are going to be someone to be messed with during the fall."
But while Hebron failed to advance to the finals at Jesuit, the team still gained experience it will carry with it to College Station and into the 2012 season.
"It's great for team-building and to get more reps and get better," Wortham added. "Especially with this being the first year starting at quarterback for Carson (Proffitt). We just want to get on the same page. It helps with crisp routes and getting off man coverage and some other things we don't get a chance to work on as much in practice. It becomes muscle memory so we are ready to rock-and-roll in the fall."
The Hawks opened the tournament on a positive note Thursday as Hebron held off a game effort from Wilmer Hutchins to win, 20-19.
Receiver Riley Ransom hauled in a pair of touchdowns from Proffitt to lead the offense, but it was safety Jamal Adams who provided the difference on the scoreboard when he recorded an interception in the Red Bull zone for three points. Conversely, the interception Hutchins recorded did not occur in the red zone and thus counted for just two points.
In Game Breakers, teams accumulate one point per first down (every 15 yards), six points for touchdowns (with the option for one- or two-point conversions), one point for an interception and three points for an interception in the red zone.
"We were a little sloppy," said Loyal Proffit, Hebron's 7-on-7 coach. "These games go so fast with the short halves that you can't have any hiccups on offense or defense. If we keep doing that, we're not going to go very far. And Carson has to press it a little more throwing the ball on third down. The quarterbacks are conditioned so much not to make any mistakes, but in 7-on-7 you have to take your chances."
Inconsistency continued in the second round with the Hawks coming up short against defending national champion Arlington Martin, 36-19. The Warriors secured an early 9-0 lead before taking a 17-9 advantage to halftime. In the second half, Martin extended its lead to 27-11 when Adams caught a touchdown to cut the deficit to 27-18. The Hawks were unable to get the stop they needed to regain possession and attempt to tie the contest, however, with the Warriors instead finding the end zone to pull away.
Hebron had previously faced Martin three times during the summer, including a pair of wins.
"Martin has a good team and a good defense," coach Proffitt said. "They shifted some things around there and we didn't adjust. They had their two safeties and moved them to corner to take away our deep stuff and it threw us off a little bit."
After suffering its first loss in the double-elimination format, Hebron still had a shot to reach the Friday finals but would have to do so out of the consolation bracket.
Austin Morgenstern kept Hebron's hopes alive in the third game of the day, grabbing a pair of touchdown receptions, including a 45-yarder on the first play of a possession as the Hawks defeated Temple in a high-scoring affair, 39-30. Vandy Parkes, Adams and Ransom also caught touchdowns in the win for the Hawks.
"We knew our backs were against the wall and that if we lost, we were done," Wortham said. "We left it all out there every play. We had some adversity in the first couple of rounds but we shook it off and regrouped and got ready to play again."
"We had a little better effort and played a lot cleaner," coach Proffitt added. "Those first two games we were lethargic, but that looked better and we played a little more competitively."
But the squad would be eliminated in the following round by DeSoto, 34-31.
Friday's semifinalists included Cy Fair, which advanced out of Hebron's bracket following two wins over DeSoto on Thursday, Georgetown, Arlington and Tyler John Tyler.
John Tyler and Cy Fair advanced out of the semifinals, with the Lions claiming the title, 35-29.
The qualifier and finals at Jesuit also featured guest appearances from Dallas Cowboy players, including DeMarcus Ware, Jason Witten, Dez Bryant and John Phillips, who took time to chat with the local youth organizations and the participating high school teams.
"What Red Bull has done out here is provide a great opportunity for kids to compete not only against teams within their state, but on a national level," Ware said. "I didn't have that when I was younger so I'm really appreciative that these kids today have that opportunity."
Now Hebron shifts its focus to state, which gets underway Friday and Saturday. The Hawks will get an early look at Red Bull champ John Tyler, as the Lions and Hawks square off in the Pool F opener at 1 p.m. Friday. The rest of the pool consists of El Paso Montwood and Katy Taylor.
"Whooo," said Brian Brazil, Hebron head football coach. "That's what we want: to play the Red Bull champs in the first game."
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