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Sports

Blue Devils Fall to Gateway Tech in 7-on-7 Tournament

Maplewood Richmond Heights coach Brandon Gregory worked at the football event held at De Smet in Creve Coeur.

A 7-on-7 football tournament is the perfect opportunity to showcase the quarterbacks. It can also be a good testing ground for new coaches. There was plenty of each on display Saturday at De Smet Jesuit High School during a tournament that featured (MRH).

The St. Louis Metropolitan Football Coaches Association held its inaugural 7-on-7 tournament at De Smet with 23 teams from Missouri and Illinois participating. The tournament featured two-hand touch “tackling” and was played without pads, and had no rushing attempts.

MRH suffered a close loss to eventual runner-up Gateway Tech in the first round of the Gold Division playoffs after going 3-0 in pool play against Columbia Hickman, Cardinal Ritter and Fort Zumwalt North. Second-year head coach Brandon Gregory said competing against the bigger schools is something he can’t replicate in practice that helps them prepare for the better teams on the schedule.

“It is very beneficial,” Gregory said. “We don’t look at ourselves as a small school. We expect to compete.”

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Gregory added that it is June and he knows his team will still get better, but he doesn’t want them peaking until the playoffs begin in November. The Blue Devils are still pretty green and Gregory said that Saturday was a learning experience for his young players.

“They can get all the thinking out of the way, so that way it’s not, ‘Coach, I thought I had this, I thought I ... .' You get that out of the way now," he said. "So when August comes, they’ll be fresh and ready to go.”

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Zumwalt West became the overall champion, defeating Gateway Tech in the Gold Division title game. Ladue beat Alton, 26-14, for the Silver Division title and Cardinal Ritter defeated Belleville West, 27-14, to win the Bronze Division.

The Blue Devils begin their season Aug. 26 against MICDS.

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