Gentry playing in 7-on-7 tournament today
By Tom Glave
tomg@nwanews.com
Photo by Jason Ivester - Gentry quarterback Caleb Ramsey and the Pioneers are in an eight-team pool featuring teams from Nashville, Springdale and Blue Valley, Kan.
The VYPE Select 7-on-7 Tournament returns to Fayetteville today and five local teams – including the Gentry Pioneers – are among the 31 high schools gunning for the title.
Rogers, Heritage, Siloam Springs, Gravette and Gentry are in the field that includes two defending state champions (Shiloh Christian and Lake Hamilton), two state runnersup (El Dorado and Helena-West Helena) and last year’s VYPE runner-up (Sherman, Texas).
Each team will play seven games in pool play, which begins today at 1 p.m. All pool play games will be played today at four sites — Arkansas’ Walker Indoor Pavilion and outdoor turf practice field, Fayetteville’s Harmon Field and Shiloh Christian’s Champions Stadium.
All 31 teams will then be seeded in a double-elimination tournament, which begins at 10 a.m. Saturday and will be played on the Arkansas campus.
Gentry’s pool includes eight teams, highlighted by Nashville, Springdale and Blue Valley, Kan. — the only other out-of-state team.
The Pioneers look to build on a good summer. They’ve done well in NWA Passing League games the past two Monday nights and won last weekend’s tournament at Lincoln.
“Our kids are catching the ball well and our quarterback (Caleb Ramsey) is throwing the ball really well and so we feel like going in this weekend we’ll be able to fare a little bit better than last year, certainly,” third-year Pioneers coach Brian Little said. “The kids are excited about it and their confidence is really high based on what we’ve done (this summer). That confidence goes a long way with these kids.”
The Pioneers went winless at last year’s VYPE tournament but picked up confidence by beating Fayetteville and Springdale during Monday’s 7-on-7 games.
“Those Monday things have turned into just practice sessions and they’re great,” Little said. “They’re great for us and we’ve really enjoyed it.
“(Ramsey has) made quite a transformation from last year to this year physically. And the other thing that helps him is kids are catching the ball for him. That makes a big difference.”
(For the full article, see the Friday issue of the Benton County Daily Record.)