7 on 7 Pylon Tournament

This past Saturday and Sunday SWAG student athletes attended the prestigious Pylon 7 on 7 football tournament.  SWAG collaborated with the Factory Football Group from Fresno, CA.  The players arrived in Las Vegas on Friday March 14, and had an unofficial visit to UNLV.  During the visit, our athletes watched UNLV’S spring football practice.  Also, during the visit our student athletes were given a tour of the campus by the coaching staff. 

The next morning, the student athletes began their quest to perfection.  The first game came against a great team out of Denver, CO.  This team was coached by NFL veteran Brian Dawkins.  The SWAG Factory came out hot, and never looked back.  Merced HS QB Tyrone Williams had a stellar performance.  His main targets were JJ Wills (Clovis HS), Aundre Sherman (Buhach Colony HS), Raneil Rogers (Washington Union HS), and Stevan Johnson (San Joaquin Memorial HS).  The SWAG Factory was victorious in this game.  The next game matched them up against a national power in AIGA (Los Angeles, CA).  Although Williams came out hot again, AIGA beat the SWAG Factory by 5 points.  After a long break, the SWAG Factory played against Rare Breed.  The SWAG Factory came out flat and was shutout.

The next morning, the SWAG Factory prepared for the single elimination tournament and matched up against Rare Breed #2.  Williams came out hot and hit Wills and Rogers for touchdowns.  The defense played well getting stellar play by DB’s Jabar Byrd (Merced HS), Bransin Johnson (Clovis North HS), Carlos Garcia (Pacheco HS), Aundre Sherman (Buhach Colony HS), and Damarrio Hammonds (Patterson HS).  Pacheco High School Linebacker Frank Ginda played well and showed why he holds the #2 Nike Sparq rating for linebackers at the Los Angeles NFTC.  The SWAG Factory won this game, and received great praise from Barton Simmons (247.com), and Khalid Ali (Under the Radar), both scouting analysts. 

The next game matched up the SWAG Factory and #1 seed Big Picture (Santa Barbara).  The game started with Williams throwing a 40 yard strike to Wills. The next series proved that the combination of Williams and Wills was one of the best at the Pylon tournament.  The Big Picture scored one touchdown keeping the game close.  The turning point of the game was when the SWAG Factory was leading by 3 points, drove down to the 1 yard line.  The Big Picture blitzed Williams and Williams outran the defender and scored on a 1 yard scamper.  The referee whistled a touchdown and it was later negated by the field manager.  Pylon 7 on 7 rules allows the defense to blitz once a game.  The offense is allowed one rush per game, but the QB is not allowed to rush the ball.  This caused a turnover on downs, and the ball awarded to the Big Picture.  Big Picture would score, and would take the lead by 5 points with 1:30 left (running clock).  The first play from scrimmage, Williams dropped back and the ball was tipped and intercepted, securing the game for the Big Picture.  “These boys are amazing.  This is our fourth year coming out here, and we have never made it past the first round.  We should have won this game, but the game of football you never know,” Coach Todd Johnson stated.  Williams played with the best of all the quarterbacks at this tournament.  “I hate losing, but this experience was great.  Seeing all these great teams and players I think raised our confidence.  I believe we matched up with the best teams at this tournament,” stated Williams. 

It’s back to work for the SWAG Factory.  They have entered the prestigious Passing Down 7 on 7 tournament on April 13, 2014 in Elk Grove, CA.  Also, they will be attending the Ute Shoot at the University of Utah on June 7, 2014.  Check out the highlight film from the Las Vegas Pylon tournament.