El Dorado wins junior high 7-on-7 tourney

Terrance Armstard/News-Times Barton's Eli Shepherd gets ready to throw a pass against Camden during a junior high 7-on-7 football tournament on Friday. El Dorado's freshman squad topped Magnolia to win the championship.
Terrance Armstard/News-Times Barton's Eli Shepherd gets ready to throw a pass against Camden during a junior high 7-on-7 football tournament on Friday. El Dorado's freshman squad topped Magnolia to win the championship.

By Tony Burns

Sports Editor

EL DORADO - With afternoon temperatures hovering around one-hundred degrees, El Dorado’s Junior High 7-on-7 Tournament was deemed too hot for the turf at Memorial Stadium. At El Dorado’s high school practice field, the ninth grade Wildcats ran through the bracket before beating Magnolia 12-3 in the championship game.

The title game was called off early due to lightning.

El Dorado had two squads in the tournament, including a combination of Barton eighth graders and EHS freshmen. Coach Kris Borosvskis coached the winning Wildcat crew, which finished off a week of mornings spent at football camp with a successful tournament Friday.

“I thought offensively and defensively, both, they competed very well,” said Borosvskis. “They battled the heat. They were very well coached as far as being attentive to things we were trying to tell them and listening and learning. And, when it came down to it, they just made great plays. I’m very proud of those guys today.”

With 30 players, El Dorado didn’t use players on both sides of the ball. Depth proved to be a key for the Wildcats, who even used a pair of quarterbacks.

“Alex Hicks took the majority of the snaps. He’s an athletic kid, strong arm. He did a great job,” said Borosvskis.

“And then, Clayton Helm came in and was able to give him a breather when it got hot and didn’t miss a beat. He did the things he does well.”

El Dorado opened tournament play with a 42-14 win over Ouachita Christian. The Wildcats then knocked off Fairview’s freshmen 20-11 in the semifinals.

On the other side of the bracket, Magnolia topped Smackover 13-12 and Fairview beat Monticello 25-16. Magnolia topped the Cardinals 26-8 in the semifinal.

“There were some games our defense kind of helped us, got us a spark and there were some games the offense got a spark for the defense,” said Borosvskis.

“All week in camp, there was a little trash talk between the offense and defense. There was a little bit of competition. We came together today as one team. I thought they did a really good job.”

Borosvskis praised his coaching staff of Matthew Nash, Garrett Whitley and Steve Wren.

He said the primary goal for the week wasn’t winning the tournament but the individual improvement of each player.

“The main thing about this week, yes, we want to win. We want to compete,” he said. “But, the main thing was the kids understood about getting reps and quality reps.”

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