PEABODY – One of the annual events of summer that signifies the beginning of the fall high school football season will take place this weekend at Bishop Fenwick when the Northeast 7v7 New England East Regional Football Series rolls into town.
The extravaganza was due to start this past weekend on July 15 at the North Regional Tournament at Exeter (NH) High School. The South Regional, which was scheduled for Sunday, July 16 at Xaverian Bros. High School in Westwood, was postponed due to heavy rain. A new date has not been announced.
Marblehead, Peabody and Lynn Classical are in the Open (or large school) Division. Bishop Fenwick, KIPP Academy, Swampscott, Lynnfield, Saugus and St. Mary’s are in the Small School Division.
“It’s a great day. I love it. I think it’s a lot of fun to watch the kids and the way the kids respond,” Marblehead Coach Jim Rudloff said. “And as a fan, you get to go and watch and get kind of a little snapshot of what your team might be like this fall.”
St. Mary’s Coach Sean Driscoll said it’s great to see student-athletes compete and get together again.
“It’s more about the competition factor, playing defense [and] running to the ball. Just getting that stuff down I think would be big,” Driscoll said. “It’s meant to be fun, and you get some work in and some exercise, but once you get into the competitive part of it, I think that takes a whole different meaning.”
Lynnfield is looking to make it two straight in the Small School Division. Last year, the Pioneers defeated St. Mary’s in the quarterfinals, Bishop Fenwick in the semifinals and Lowell Catholic in the championship game.
Lynnfield Head Coach Pat Lamusta said he is hoping for a good turnout.
“All the families have different vacations and time away so we want to have a decent group,” Lamusta said. “Really, I just want whoever is there representing us to compete and give maximum effort and help each other on. This will be a good opportunity to see what kinds of skills players have going into August.”
Marblehead and Peabody also made it to the elimination rounds in 2022. Peabody defeated Woburn in the quarterfinals and then lost to perennial powerhouse Methuen in the semifinals, while Marblehead bowed out in the quarterfinals at the hands of Methuen.
Peabody Coach Mark Bettencourt said he expects that due to losing his top four receivers and quarterback Shea Lynch, last year’s Northeastern Conference MVP, everything is wide open.
“We’ll just have to see how it goes Saturday, but a lot of kids will have an opportunity to step up this year,” Bettencourt said. “Losing Shea is high school’s equivalent of losing Tom Brady and we are also losing four big receivers, so everyone will have a chance to show what they can do. It’s always a fun event.”
When asked about the balance between fun and competitiveness, Rudloff said at this point in the summer, it goes up a level.
“I think, for Saturday, don’t go if you’re going for fun,” Rudloff said. “If you’re going to give up your Saturday, and you’re going to go with your teammates, then you should go to compete.”
He also hopes to learn more about his players.
“When kids get down, you get a chance to see them. When kids are ahead, you get a chance to see how they react after a game, so it’s good,” Rudloff said.
The event was formerly known as the Swampscott/Lynnfield 7v7 Shootout, but as that event’s popularity increased dramatically, the tournament expanded in 2011 with the addition of a second regional site and a new sponsor in Under Armour. The following year, the South regional event was added.
The tournament format is typical of most 7v7 tournaments in that games are limited to 24 minutes of running time and are played on a 40-yard field with each team getting three downs and just two first downs per possession to reach the endzone. Every play from scrimmage must be a pass and quarterbacks are given a maximum of four seconds to unload the ball before the down is forfeited.
Teams play in a five-team round-robin format with the top two teams from each group advancing to the playoffs where the format switches to single elimination.
Eight fields are in simultaneous use, with every game starting and stopping at the same time.
Pool play begins at 10 a.m. with the final round of games scheduled for 2:30 p.m., making it a very long day for teams surviving and moving on to the championship’s elimination rounds that are scheduled to begin at approximately 3 p.m. and end at 5 p.m.
The winners and finalists from the three regional sites qualify for the New England championship at Xaverian on July 27 from 4-9 p.m. In addition to the six automatic qualifiers, four wild card teams also qualify to fill out the 10-team field.
For complete game schedules, go to www.northeast7v7.com.
