FLOWERY BRANCH — On Friday in the Battle at the Branch 7-on-7 football tournament, Union County proved that size really doesn’t matter.
The Class AAA Panthers, who were the smallest area school among the 16 teams competing, knocked off larger schools Madison County (Class AAAA) and Lanier (AAAAAA) before falling to eventual tournament champion and Class AAAAAAA power Archer in a tight 27-24 loss in the semifinals.
Union County coach Brian Allison had mixed feelings before the single-elimination portion of the tournament began.
“I think we’re competing but it has looked like it’s the first competition of the year for us at times,” he stated after a tough outing against Oconee County in the round-robin portion. “But it’s a learning process.”
It was a different tune during the elimination rounds, however. The Panthers, behind senior gunslinger Cole Wright, whipped Madison County in the first round and then scored 24 consecutive points to rally past Lanier. They never trailed by more than eight points against Archer and had a chance to tie the game with under two minutes to go. But the Tigers denied that attempt and then converted two first downs in the final minute to run out the clock.
“That was an awesome showing for us. We're not as big the other teams; we're not as fast as they are; and we don't have the numbers they do. But Cole threw the ball very well and we made some good catches,” Allison said after the matchup with Archer. “We were the little guy among all those giants. When you have heart and compete, size doesn’t always matter.”
The Panthers weren’t the only northeast Georgia area team to put in strong performances. Habersham Central, in its first competition of the summer, made the quarterfinals behind new quarterback A.J. Curry. The Raiders beat St. Pius with a late score and took runner-up Dacula to the wire in the semifinals.
Raiders coach Benjie Harrison liked what he saw.
“These formats are great early on because you get the opportunity to evaluate a lot of kids and see what they can do,” Harrison said. “This was great for A.J. There were a lot of learning opportunities. You can’t mimic the looks teams give you. I think the sky’s the limit for A.J.”
Mill Creek, coming off a state semifinal appearance in 2016, is sporting several newcomers, including a pair of new signal-callers trying to take over for the graduated Cameron Turley.
The Hawks regulars dominated until running into a loaded Dacula group in the semifinals. Coach Shannon Jarvis said he got what he was hoping for from his new-look squad.
“We have a lot to replace (from last year),” Jarvis said. “This was our first tournament of the summer and what we were looking for was competitive toughness from our guys. We saw that most of the time.”
Tournament coordinator and new Flowery Branch coach Ben Hall said it was a solid day all around. The Falcons did not make it out of the first round, falling to Lanier, but Hall said the day was about more than just wins-and-losses.
“This was our first competition as a group. I thought it was a good learning day for us. We were looking forward to the competition and I think our guys competed pretty well,” Hall said.
Gainesville also competed in the event and beat Oconee County in the first elimination round. But the Red Elephants fell to Mill Creek in the quarterfinals.
It was an improvement for both Gainesville and Laier. Last week, neither team won an elimination-round game in the Dragons 7-on-7 tournament in Jefferson.
