Pirates win 7-on-7s at Scottsboro, SMPA
By TAYLOR D. BECK The Reporter
BOAZ, Ala. — It was a busy, but successful week for Pirate Football as Boaz won a pair of 7-on-7 tournaments featuring several local schools.
On Wednesday, Boaz traveled to Scottsboro for a 7-on-7 competition where the Pirates outdueled nine other programs, including North Jackson, Madison County, Pisgah, St. Clair County, Sylvania, DAR, St. John Paul II, Collinsville and the host Wildcats.
There was also a lineman challenge featuring a handful of activities in which the area’s hog mollies competed in 1-on-1 pass protection drills among other workouts.
On Thursday, Boaz stayed closer to home for the annual 7-on-7 Showcase Tournament at Sand Mountain Park in Albertville, hosted in partnership with Douglas High School. There, the Pirates bested well over a dozen competing teams for their second 7-on-7 tournament win in as many days.
“I thought our guys competed well and played really well,” said Boaz head coach Jeremy Sullivan. “You have to remember it’s not real football, so we don’t really put too much stock into it, but it’s fun to take part and compete.
“I thought it was good for us as far as developing our guys in the secondary,” he continued. “I thought that group played really well.
“We were actually missing one of our starters, so we played a lot of younger guys and found some guys that will be able to step up and play on Friday nights for us.”
Sullivan said the passing attack, led by senior quarterback Tyler Pierce, was rolling despite missing a couple of receivers this week.
“Pierce has looked really good these last two days,” he said. “We were missing a receiver so we ended up playing an 8th grader — Jay Patterson — who played extremely well and could end up getting some time on Friday nights.”
While he doesn’t put much stock into the scores or the win/loss record at 7-on-7 events, Sullivan said he does believe performing at a high level “builds confidence in execution.”
Offensively, this includes everything from creating a better rapport between the quarterback and receivers and continually improving the timing on routes and throws. And on both sides of the ball, coaches get to see players read and react to a lot of different schemes that are sometimes unfamiliar.
“Another underrated aspect that comes with competing in these tournaments is the conditioning,” Sullivan said.
“We’ve played over 15 games in the last two days. We’ve been up and down the field no telling how many times, going full speed. But you try and get your guys to just run a bunch of sprints, it ain’t so fun, and they probably aren’t going to go full speed every single time.”
Last season, the Pirates finished 6-6 (2-3) with a first-round playoff win over Southside. It marked the sixth straight trip to the postseason under Sullivan, and the Pirates’ first playoff victory since 2008.
Boaz is set to open the 2024 season Friday, Aug. 23 at home against Madison County. The Pirates travel to St. Clair County for a jamboree Friday, Aug. 16.
