This past spring East High School entered two teams into the Fox River Classic 7v7 Football League. Games were held every Sunday morning/afternoon at Scray Hill Park in Ledgeview. East entered one team in the 16u category featuring juniors, sophomores, and some freshmen, and one team in the 14u category featuring all freshmen.
Both teams were coached by Kareem Jones and held practices at Joannes Park on Wednesday evenings and Saturday afternoons. Each team played eight regular season games with the regular season starting on April 12, and ending on May 19. Full disclosure, I don’t know what the teams’ regular season records ended up being. Both teams went about .500. It wasn’t a long season, but if you’ve participated in a spring sport before, it feels long because the weather is cold when it starts and hot when it ends. When I think back on April 12 I remember freezing and talking to Coach Kareem about how he wished he was back down south. The team also fought through ups and downs that made it feel like a long season, but in the end it was worth it to see the team come together.
The tournament took place on June 2 and you could see the improvement. Our varsity team lit up the scoreboard, winning their first game 51-35 over a team from De Pere. In the semifinals they battled a team from West De Pere. It was a back and forth battle from the first possession and our Red Devils forced overtime, tying the game at 42 with a TD and 2-point conversion on the final play of regulation. After battling through two overtimes they came out on the losing end, 54-48.
Our freshman team cruised to an easy victory in their first game, 45-15. In the semifinals they found themselves down 23-6 at halftime and all looked lost, but in typical fashion for this freshman squad, they battled back. Our baby Devils had possession under a minute left with a chance to win but an interception sealed a 34-31 loss
Both teams fought hard, built chemistry, and have a lot of momentum going into the summer. Shout out to all of the East High families and fans who came out to support our boys. Another shout out to Cam, Manny, and the crew at The Culture for setting our kids up with the sickest uniforms in the FRC. Big thanks to Coach Kareem Jones for the job he did working with both teams all spring.
I’m editorializing a bit, but watching this team you would never know this is a program that went 0-10 during the regular season last year. I know 7v7 and regular season high school tackle football are two different things, but I promise you a lot of those teams saw East and assumed they’d be coasting to victory like they were last fall. They found out the hard way that was not going to be the case. Our boys got valuable live game experience together and bonded as a team this spring. It will only help come August when things get real.
Green Bay East Gridiron Club 