Monroe football team wins Seahawks’ 7-on-7 tournament
Published 9:23 pm Monday, June 24, 2013
A team from Monroe High School won the Seattle Seahawks Regional 7-on-7 football tournament Sunday at the NFL team’s training facility in Renton.
The tournament was part of the NFL’s High School Player Development (HSPD) program.
The event brought together eight teams from Washington, Idaho and Montana, all of which qualified at 7-on-7 camps around the Northwest. Monroe was the champion of the camp held May 31 at Glacier Peak High School.
The 7-on-7 games are non-contact and are played on a 40-yard field with a 10-yard end zone. Only passing plays are allowed.
At the regionals, Monroe posted a 3-0 record in pool play, beating Foss High School of Tacoma 24-7, Nampa, Idaho, 21-17, and Idaho Falls 31-21. That sent the Bearcats into the single-elimination portion of the tournament as the No. 1 seed.
Monroe beat Bonneville High School from Idaho 38-14 to advance to the semifinals, where the Bearcats rallied from a 14-10 halftime deficit with 27 unanswered points to best Idaho Falls 37-14.
The Bearcats then won the tournament championship with a 23-14 victory over the Foss Falcons.
The victory earned Monroe the right to represent the Seahawks and the Northwest in the national tournament, which is scheduled for July 11-14 in Cincinnati.
In six tournament games, Monroe quarterback Andrew Zimmerman threw 21 touchdown passes and just one interception. The Bearcats’ defense picked off nine passes.
The 12 members of the team were Zimmerman, Robbie Schab, Hunter Bingham, Shanden Mixayphone, McKinley Braa, Max Blais, Mitchell Higgins, Cody Kennedy, Zander McCreary, Gabe Moore, Chase DiMonda and Alex Vidican. They were coached by Jake Herigstad and Edd Pratt.
Crossfire places second
Three players from Snohomish County high schools were part of the Redmond-based Crossfire Premier 95A boys soccer team that placed second over the weekend at the 2013 U.S. Youth Soccer Region IV Championships in Honolulu.
Crossfire’s roster included goalkeeper Sam Roe of Lakewood High School, and forward Christian Thode and defender Tyler Ptacek, both from Archbishop Murphy.
Crossfire reached the championship game with a 4-2 victory over California-based Fram B17 Premier.
In Sunday’s title game, Crossfire lost 4-2 to another California team, Santa Clara Sporting 95.
