How the West Was Won – South Florida Express Takes Adidas 7on7 Title

Chad Wilson

By: Chad Wilson – Editor GridironStuds Blog
Twitter: @GridironStuds

Some of the top 7on7 teams in the country descended upon El Camino College in Los Angeles, California this past weekend to take part in the Adidas 7on7 national championships.  It was a festival of athletic greatness, competition and pageantry as Adidas continues to insert themselves into the consciousness of the high school football market nationwide.  Amongst it all was an outstanding effort by South Florida Express that netted them the national championship.

Before we get into the on the field action,  let’s talk about the event that was well attended by players, coaches, parents and recruiting media.  You also can’t talk about this event without mentioning the effort put forth by Adidas.  The most talked about thing in that regard was the player’s lounge where individuals were getting haircuts, making personalized shirts, playing video games and taking pictures.  Celebs Chad Ocho Cinco,  Snoop Dog and JuJu Smith-Schuster were in attendance to mingle and take pictures with the fans.  Along with all that,  Adidas ran a solid event with quality officiating, score keeping and sideline control.  Those things cannot be understated.

Now to the on the field action.  With the talent as heavy as it was,  it would be difficult for a team to go through the tournament unblemished by that’s exactly what took place with South Florida Express.  After coming up just short in some recent events,  SFE had their business suits on in Los Angeles.  Led by 2019 Cardinal Gibbons QB Nik Scalzo,  the Express mixed sometimes explosive, often timely offense with stifling defense to march through the competition.

In pool play Scalzo spread the ball around to impressive 2019 South Dade HS, Fl wide receiver Frank Ladson, 2019 Chaminade HS, FL WR John Dunmore and 2020 Doral Academy WR Baron Grant.  When coverage got heavy,  Scalzo exploited match-ups out of the backfield to 2020 Northwestern WR Marcus Fleming, 2022 WR Malik Rutherford out of Champagnat Catholic and 2019 University School star Kenny Macintosh.

Defensively,  SFE used stifling coverage outside by 2019 4-star Tyrique Stevenson and 2020 Miami Central HS CB Henry Gray to force the ball inside to playmaking corners 2019 Carol City’s Jarvis Brownlee, 2019 St Thomas’ Jaden Davis and Chaminade’s 2019 product Te’Cory Couch. Linebackers Keontra Smith from Chaminade Madonna and Derek Wingo St. Thomas patrolled the middle at linebacker like a high paid club bouncer.  However,  the biggest damage to opponents were safeties Jordan Battle (2019 St. Thomas) and Josh Sanguinetti 2019 University School).  The duo got their hands on balls often and in key spots.

The biggest challenge in pool play for SFE came against California based Ground Zero who had Express down 18-0 early on before SFE roared back with 22 unanswered to win it.  SFE finished 3-0 overall in pool play and ended up the third seed overall heading into championship day.

Elimination Day was long but it was more of the same on the field for South Florida Express.  2019 WR Jaylin Young out of Hallandale and 2019 TE Nik Ognenovic continued their consistent play with timely catches to keep the offense purring. Fleming was a menace to every team coming out of the backfield.  His ability to shred underneath coverage kept the coverage on Dunmore, Ladson and Grant honest on the outside. Rutherford may be undersized but he created huge gaps between himself and defenders once he got the ball in his hands.  Scalzo impressed many in attendance with his command and control as SFE answered every challenge.

After an easy opening round win,  SFE squared off with Orlando’s Rat Pak coached by former Florida Gator Keiwan Ratliff.  The Express was in revenge mode after losing to Rat Pak last month in the Adidas Miami tournament.  SFE would get their revenge in a mighty way doing away with the Rat Pak 29-2.   Next up on the revenge tour was a very talented FAST Houston team that defeated SFE in Atlanta earlier on in the season.  In much the same way they dealt with Rat Pak,  SFE dominated the matchup and won 29-2.  Highly ranked 2019 QB Grant Gunnell’s KBIII team was up next and after trading early scores,  SFE exerted their will to come away with the win 22-14.

Back to back games vs. Dream Tennessee in the semi-final and final was all that stood in the way of SFE and the championship.  That ended up being nothing much to worry about as SFE took the semi-final 36-16 and then the final 31-14.  It was too much Scalzo, Fleming, Ladson and the crew along with stingy defense.  The two match-ups featured a 2 INT game by Sanguinetti, an outstanding reach for the sky pick by Stevenson and perhaps the greatest catch of the whole tournament as Kenny MacIntosh turned a defender into a meme with an amazing effort on a fade from Scalzo.

https://twitter.com/rlacey23/status/983417013895774210

All in all,  South Florida Express earned the respect of the competitors as well as some Adidas hardware.  Outstanding effort by SFE out in Los Angeles.

 

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