Friday Night Lights: 7-on-7 Edition

Macomb Football 7-on-7
7/13/10

Macomb High School hosted a seven-team 7-on-7, featuring six teams that made the playoffs last season. I spoke with Bombers head coach Kelly Sears at length last week about the night's itinerary. He says it's slightly different than what many of the 7-on-7's are. He puts 15 minutes on the clock and it runs, with teams running plays. There is not a set number of plays run. The field is divided up into two 40-yard fields, and play begins at 6:00, and wraps up around 9:00, with all the teams seeing each other in a round-robin. No score is kept, although some coaches and players may keep track.

With my new IHSSN car magnets from Lasermark in Galesburg, I find myself in marketing mode when I travel. I try to find the parking spot that the IHSSN logo will be seen the most frequent. I parked right at the high school entrance, and even pulled in at a slight angle, for added effect, LOL.

The two Stark County mini buses pulled in right in front of me. I had talked with Rebels head coach Jade Noard about this event also. His team was without potential D-1 recruit, Calvin Lewis, as he was on vacation.

Former Macomb offensive coordinator Steve Horrell was cruising around the grounds in a Gator, filled with water. He was the self-proclaimed Bobby Boucher, from The Waterboy. He made a crack about my shorts asking, "Do you they sell men's clothes where you bought those shorts?" Always the comedian.

The first matchup I watched was Central/Southeastern vs. Stark County. Justin Kohler looks to be the starting Quarterback for the Rebels, a sophomore. C/SE is very talented, and (shameless plug time), you can read both of their previews at www.ihssn.net.

Filming is very difficult, since my camera is just a Flip Video camera. The sun setting in the western sky troubled my vision, and the camera. When I walked to the other side to get out of the sun, the large evergreen trees providing shade on the west side of the field gave my camera fits.

Macomb looked very good, and at one point, someone mentioned they had not lost. That was overheard after five contests. Of course, no one keeps score....sure! Seth Wickert will be at Quarterback, and he has some nice weapons in the passing game. For more on Macomb, read my preview at www.ihssn.net.

One game I wanted to catch (okay, I know it's only 7-on-7, but some matchups are more intriguing), was Illini West vs. Central/Southeastern. Illini West lost quite a bit from last season, but they have some extremely talented skill players back, including Ser Whittaker, and the Schmudlach brothers (Drake and Zane).

Knoxville had a Wide Receiver hit drilled in their first game. I will have video posted on the website, though in real time (and my poor camera operating), its hard to get a good angle on what happened. Blue Bullets Quarterback Brett Walker has a nice arm, and you can read more about Knoxville football at www.ihssn.net.

During one of their breaks, I talked with some of the Macomb coaches, including head coach Kelly Sears, offensive coordinator Max Kreps, and assistants Joe Westen and Reid Kelso. The hot topic was pizza. The Macomb press box gets pizza delivered from Domino's before each home game during the season. Someone mentioned they were not a big fan of the new Domino's crust. I disagree, I think the new crust is very good. Coach Sears put his vote in for Papa John's, while another mentioned Casey's...yes the gas station. Who would have thought, but gas station pizza is preferred by many. Casey's barbecue pizza is my all-time favorite non-Chicago pizza. I'm a deep dish guy, so any of the chain pizza's just don't do it for me. I like Pizza Hut, but moreso the next day warmed up in the microwave. As we were debating pizza, someone heard of a new carry-out pizza place opening in downtown Macomb. This would make the 59th pizza place in a city of 20,000 people. Sure, that's an exaggeration, but not by much. We remembered a former carry-out pizza joint, called Stuffed-Aria, which was located where Chick's on the Square is. It was great pizza, and from what I remember, they were one of the first places that sold food outside of the downtown bars at closing time in the early 2000's.

Maybe, a more apt title for this blog would be Pizza Primer: The Favorites Among Coaches.

I didn't stay for the last session, but left after watching Macomb and Illini West play. Of course, it's so hard to gauge things in 7-on-7's, with different schemes, plays, kids being gone, or out of position.

Running the scoreboard tonight was "Not So Fast" Ed Fulkerson. He earns that nickname after not moving quick enough during one of the sessions, before the end of game sirens blared for about 30 seconds. Other than that instance, he was on the money!