Burnet to host 7 on 7 State Qualifier

CAPTION: Calan Syphrett makes this shoe-string catch for a big gain. Staff photos by Jennifer Fierro

Burnet Consolidated Independent School District’s Bulldog Field will once again serve as the site of the annual 7 on 7 State Qualifier Tournament.

The year’s event, which begins at 9 a.m. Saturday, May 30, features the Bulldogs plus seven other teams.

The Bulldogs, who are in pool B, begin play against Wimberley at 9 a.m., Fredericksburg at 10:30 a.m. and Marble Falls at noon.

Pool A includes Austin LBJ, Bandera, Lago Vista and Llano, which is the only class 3A member in the tournament. The pool winners will meet in the championship at 1:45 p.m. for the state tournament berth.

“We’re excited that we have eight teams,” tournament director and Burnet head coach Ben Speer said. “We’re excited about having a full docket of teams here. I think we’ve done a good job the last several years I’ve put one on in having good competition. When we look at the ones we had in the past, this is probably the more complete tournament that we’ve had top to bottom. There’s no real slouch in it. I don’t think there’s any deadweights. Anything can happen.”

Speer said he has gotten know to Bandera head coach Joel Fontenot-Amedee through the Hill Country Coaches Association, which Fontenot-Amedee started, and extended an invitation to that program to play in the qualifier.

“They’re excited about coming this direction and competing,” Speer said. “He’s a great coach and does a good job.”

Fredericksburg has participated in the state qualifier in the past and the Burnet program knows the Billies because they have competed against each other in the Llano June League and in the regular season.

The Burnet skipper noted that Wimberley head coach Wesley Lambert was equally enthusiastic about the qualifier.

“They’re good and excited about coming to Burnet and us hosting and how well run it is,” he said. “LBJ was the last one to get in, so they were tickled to death to get in so close to them. You know LBJ is well coached, and they’ll compete. That’ll be good competition, great athletes there, and we’ll see what they do.”

Burnet is very familiar with Llano and Marble Falls since the three programs play 7 on 7 against each other throughout the months of May and June each summer. And while these coaches recognize some of the opposing players, they know that families take vacations shortly after the school year ends and players may not be available.

“I think all of us battle some of the same issues in the summer, and it’s which kids are in town,” Speer said. “At this size, the (Class) 4A size in the summer, this is what you deal with when your kids play multiple sports and they’re very successful at that. And so you hope you have enough of a roster you can make up and just have them compete.”

And for the athletes who can play, Speer anticipates some terrific plays on both sides of the ball because these programs feature tremendous athletes.

“I’m really pleased with the teams that are coming, the coaches and the level of competition that’ll be here,” he said. “Whoever comes out with this and goes on to the state tournament has a good shot to go win several games and get in that championship bracket the second day.”

CAPTION: The competition didn’t make it easy for Tommy Butler to make catches. But he did anyway.