Thompson Football competes in ALFCA USA Football 7 on 7

Hoover, Al - On a day where temperatures would breach 93 degrees, the Thompson Warriors would need to find a way to work through more than eight hours of competition. The Warrior football program competed in the ALFCA USA Football 7 on 7 tournament held in Hoover Alabama with 48 other teams. Teams would include familiar region foes such as Hoover and Spain Park as well as defending state champions Mcgill Toolen. The tournament also saw some of the states major football talent on display. Thompson fielded a varsity team and a 9th grade team for the tournament.

"We had to find a way to take a step forward and maintain our momentum" said Warriors head coach Mark Freeman. "This is a great opportunity to compete and build on our spring practice success". The Warriors would open pool play early against Buckhorn and managed a 24-12 win. The next game saw the Warriors face Carver of Birmingham. Thompson managed to cruise to a 27-11 victory. By 10:30 am and before temperatures were out of the eighties the Warriors had managed two double digit victories.

Fortunes would soon change and the agony of defeat would be realized, as Thompson would experience two single point losses within two hours. Thompson lost to Albertville 25-26 and lost to Hillcrest, an in-season opponent, 11-12. Thompson needed to regroup. The Warriors were 2-2 and needed to make a push for more positives. In the meantime word floated across campus that the Thompson freshman team had managed to tie 15-15 with Hoover's freshman team and were able to rattle off big victories against Chelsea's JV team and Huffman's JV team. Additionally, the Thompson freshman group managed a victory over Trussville's JV team. The only loss of the day came against Spain Park's JV.

Thompson's varsity group managed to pull together during the break after pool play and rattled off an impressive series of wins as they moved through tournament play. Thompson would face Wetumpka initially and won a close game 19-12. The competition did not get any easier, as the Warriors would meet Hillcrest again. In an equally close game, the Warriors were able to best the Patriots 17-15 and advance to the quarterfinals. Thompson would face Park Crossing and managed a huge 29-21 victory to advance to the final four against Mcgill Toolen.

The final four included a Hoover / Ramsay match-up and a Thompson / Mcgill match-up. Hoover would eventually best Ramsay 24-7. The Thompson group only managed six points as they began to fade down the stretch. Minor miscues led to bigger mistakes as Mcgill Toolen managed a 33-6 win and an opportunity to play Hoover in the championship. Mcgill Toolen would eventually beat Hoover 27-2 to capture the ALFCA USA Football 7 on 7 championship.

Freeman said " I am very proud of our kids today. We managed to achieve positive things in the face of adversity. We had early success but dropped some games we shouldn't have . Our kids played well in tournament play and got us in a position to play for a championship. When it was all said and done we were in the final four and got an invitation to the national tournament in a few weeks."