SOUTHWEST ELITE NOTEBOOK

SPRINGDALE -- Shiloh Christian's Southwest Elite 7on7 Showcase will continue to thrive despite a new rule passed last summer.

Proposal No. 6 was passed by the Governing Body of the Arkansas Activities Association last summer, limiting the number of days of competitive activities to eight during summer per athlete per sport.

Teams certainly then had to consider whether to spend two of those eight days at two-day tournaments such as those at Shiloh Christian, Pulaski Academy and Hendrix College.

"I see it as something we want to think through and strategize through," Shiloh Christian athletic director Jeff Conaway said. "Going into this year, I thought it might be something we want to consider and want to change. The feedback from our tournament this year is that we need to keep it this way."

All three of those two-day tournaments lost some teams this summer in favor of teams wanting to play in one-day tournaments instead.

"The feedback I'm getting because we do such a good job with this tournament that the two-day tournament is still the way to go, especially from our coaches in Oklahoma because they get to play in a set number of tournaments," Conaway said. "They would rather have a two-day tournament. The teams that tried to go other places, we have also heard from them. I would imagine they would tell you this is the place to be. We've heard from two schools already."

Unlike most 7-on-7 tournaments, Shiloh Christian pays to have real officials to the tune of about $5,100 for the two days, Conaway said.

"We pay our officials and bring in extra officials; most tournaments don't do that," Conway said. "It makes a difference."

Shiloh Christian also has a well-organized group of volunteers under the watchful eye of tournament director Jacob Skinner.

"The thing that makes this tournament thrive is the volunteers from keeping the clock and timing the QBs, and then the professional officials we bring in," Conaway said. "Our tournament director does an excellent job. That's what makes this so great. There are so many intricate details that have to be taken care of to make a tournament successful. I believe we do that really well because of our tournament director and our volunteers."

Due to the new rule, coaches did have to scrutinize their summer schedule to maximize those eight days of competitive activities.

"Since we knew it was two days, we went ahead and factored it in," Springdale head coach Zak Clark said. "We always do this one. We weren't going to cut this one. We ended up doing a three-day team camp that if it came down to it and we needed another day we could cut out one of those sessions either morning or afternoon. As far as the calendar goes, you just have to be smart."

A total of 27 teams, including 12 Arkansas schools, participated as well as teams from Oklahoma, Indiana, Missouri, Illinois and Kansas.

TOURNAMENT CONTINUES TO THRIVE

Skinner has served as the tournament director for the past three years and said the event continues to evolve and thrive.

"When I first took this over, I had no clue what I was doing, but once you start the ball rolling, it just takes off," Skinner said. "That's because of the volunteers. Without them, there is no tournament."

The event this year was split into three venues in Fayetteville, Springdale High and Shiloh Christian on Friday. On Saturday, the event was held at Shiloh Christian and Southwest Junior High.

Skinner is the boys basketball coach at Shiloh Christian but was a standout punter for the Razorbacks in college. He joked when asked how he became the tournament director.

"I think that falls under 'other duties as assigned,'" he said.

Skinner said the tournament will continue to utilize other venues with turfed fields so that weather should not be a factor in play.

TALENTED QBs

Some of the best quarterbacks in the state were on display in the Southwest Elite 7on7 on Friday and Saturday.

Fayetteville quarterback Darius Bowers was certainly one of those along with Conway Christian's Jacob Wood, Ozark's Dawson Deitz, Fort Smith Northside's Derrick Wise, Elkins' Quin McClain and Springdale's Grant Allen.

"If you've got a good quarterback, you've got a chance against anybody," Clark said. "It's fun to compete, and it's fun to see guys throw it around. They've all got quarterbacks that can play, or you probably don't go to these things."

Clark was a quarterback at Fayetteville in the 1990s when 7-on-7 was just starting to catch on in Arkansas.

"The game has changed," Clark said. "The first 7-on-7 tournament I remember when I was in high school was right here. It was organized, but it was just like, 'We're going to meet at Shiloh,' and it was nothing like this. The way it's grown and the development of the quarterbacks -- everybody has a quarterback that can play. If you don't, I don't care how good you are. It's very difficult to win without a good quarterback."

Springdale made its deepest run in the Showcase in several years this summer, posting a 7-5 record. The Bulldogs played most of the tournament without top receiver Brock Pounders, who suffered a concussion Friday against Fort Smith Northside and did not return for the rest of the weekend.

BACK IN THE AREA

Bill Blankenship, who guided Fayetteville to the state championship in 2016 before heading back to his home state of Oklahoma to coach at Owasso, brought his Rams to the Southwest Elite 7on7.

"We love it here," Blankenship said. "This is great country and great people. Shiloh puts on an absolute great tournament. They make it right for everybody."

Blankenship was at Fayetteville for seven months after taking over for departed Daryl Patton in June 2016. He guided the Bulldogs to the Class 7A state championship. In January 2017, the Oklahoma native returned to his home state to take over at Owasso. In December, he guided Owasso to the state championship in Oklahoma's largest classification, Class 6A.

"It was a magical year for us," Blankenship said. "The guys really got better week by week by week. We had really good kids, really coachable. When you believe, good things can happen."

The circumstances were completely different at the two schools.

"Fayetteville had been doing it," Blankenship said. "It was a lot more Cinderella style. Fayetteville was the defending champ. You felt some pressure to go get one. They're all good anyway; you can do it, but this one was pretty special."

Owasso beat mighty Tulsa Union, 21-14, for the Oklahoma championship. With the win, Blankenship achieved a rare feat of winning state championships four seasons in a row as a head coach at three different schools in two states; at Owasso in 2017, at Fayetteville in 2016 and at Tulsa Union at 2004 and 2005 before taking the head coaching position at the University of Tulsa.

Blankenship brought his team to Shiloh Christian's 7-on-7 for repetitions.

"The big thing for us is competitive reps," Blankenship said. "You try your best in practice and work on routes and coverages and this and that, but when you're working against yourself, you'll never get the looks and the effort you get when you're going against a different team every 30 minutes."

OKLAHOMA IS OK

Broken Arrow, Okla., capped a pretty good two-day run by Oklahoma teams in the Shiloh Christian Southwest Elite 7on7 Tournament.

Broken Arrow double-dipped Fayetteville for the championship with two wins after Fayetteville had won the winner's bracket.

Broken Arrow also won one of the brackets in round-robin play Friday. Midwest City, Okla., and Bixby, Okla., also won their brackets on Friday.

Broken Arrow, Midwest City and Bixby were three of the final four teams in tournament play along with Fayetteville.

"They are big Oklahoma schools," Conaway said. "They've always done well in this tournament. They've got some great programs in Oklahoma. They've done well every year they've participated in our tournament."

Owasso was a second seed in bracket play, and Stillwater was a third seed.

Fayetteville was a second seed in bracket play, Bentonville was a three seed and Springdale was a fourth seed.

OUT WITH THE OLD

Shiloh Christian got to unveil the new turf with the tournament.

"We got to show off the new turf," Conaway said. "We're loving it. It looks great. It feels even better. It's both sticky and fast. I feel we have the best turf in the state of Arkansas."

Shiloh Christian's old turf was 14 years old, which exceeded the life of most artificial turfs.

"I think it was the oldest turf in the state. It was time," Conaway said.

BENTONVILLE FALLS SHORT IN TITLE DEFENSE

The defending champion Tigers lost back-to-back games to Bixby 21-10 and Midwest City 31-16.

Bentonville was tied 16-16 against Midwest City after Easton Hughes fired a touchdown pass, but the Tigers gave up two touchdowns to Bombers quarterback Preston Colbert and an interception in the loss.

Colbert was 11-of-16 in the win, and Hughes was 10-of-18.

Sports on 07/15/2018

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