FAYETTEVILLE -- For years, Fayetteville has worked throughout its football program to build one of the top 7-on-7 teams in the region, if not the entire state, on a consistent basis.
Trips to Hoover, Ala., treks to Nashville, Tenn., and closer stops to Little Rock and Shiloh Christian for major tournaments have been the reward for hard work put in by everyone involved with the Purple'Dogs' 7-on-7 teams. But all the while Fayetteville was having success in the summer passing circuit, one part of the football team was missing.
This week, that group of Bulldogs was finally included.
The first-ever Fayetteville Big Guy 7-on-7 Tournament began Monday at Harmon Stadium. If the participants looked a little out of the ordinary from a typical 7-on-7 format, that's because this one is probably a first of its kind.
In typical 7-on-7 games and tournaments, schools will bring the usual skill position players on offense -- quarterbacks, wide receivers, running backs -- and the necessary back seven on defense made up of linebackers and secondary. That leaves out the boys in the trenches, the linemen who do the dirty work on Friday nights.
Not anymore, as Fayetteville pitted linemen against linemen for a little bit of fun and competition in the Big Guy 7-on-7 Tournament.
"Last year's seniors had a streetball version of this," Fayetteville offensive line coach Bryant Davis said. "So we just had this idea to put this together.
"If it wasn't for these guys hounding me so much over the spring, this probably wouldn't have happened."
The linemen split up into four teams -- The Thundercats, the Pussycats, the Willits and Willts Brothers and Milky and the Boys -- and played a round of four games Monday. They'll come back and wrap up the bracket today, with a championship team and MVP player honor to be determined at the end of the Big Guy Tournament.
"We put in the time for this," said senior offensive tackle Jackson McNeal, who played for the Thundercats. "It was those hard pick up games after practice that made the difference for our team."
McNeal was making his plea for MVP honors after one Thundercats game in which he snagged two touchdowns, had an interception and also hauled in a two-point pass. But he wasn't the only one to shine among the Big Guys.
"I've been real surprised," Fayetteville coach Daryl Patton said. "There have been some kids who have some real ability out here, and there's others who have really struggled with catching the ball.
"But these guys deserve a lot of credit. They're out here playing for an hour and a half like a real 7-on-7 tournament."
Junior tight end/defensive end Eli Hale played a good amount of quarterback Monday, a position he had played earlier in his career. Perhaps it was an unfair advantage for Hale's team as he showed off the strongest arm among the countless number of Bulldogs who gave quarterback a try during the tournament. In the end, who played where didn't matter as much to these big Purple'Dogs as much as the fact the entire group was playing 7-on-7 together.
Finally, it was their turn.
"I think it's something we could continue to grow," Patton said. "As long as nobody gets hurt, we could do it again."
Sports on 06/17/2014