Football is back this summer, kicking off with the Border Battle 7-on-7 tournament in Branson.
“I feel good, it feels good to actually do some football stuff with some helmets and run some routes and stuff so it’s fun,” said Nixa’s Ramone Green Jr.
“It felt like the school year just would never end with all the things were coming out towards the end of it, but now we’re finally in the middle of summer and it feels normal again,” said Fair Grove head coach Bill Voorhis.
The camp started with a motivational message from NFL alum Ray McElroy.
“I think it’s pretty cool just to kind of turn it into not just seven on seven but an event where we feed the kids I get to listen to NFL player get an encouraging message,” said Branson head coach Anthony Hays, “He did a great job, and I really appreciate personally that he came in.”
Then the 24 teams split up for an all day tournament.
“I think people are just itching to get back playing football and doing summer activities. Last year around this time — right before we were going to start camps — they got cancelled, seven on seven got canceled, so I had to actually turn teams away this year, just because there was that much interest,” Hays said.
“We’re so blessed to be able to come here and do this against a lot of high quality opponents,” said MV-BT/Liberty Offensive Coordinator Chris Holland, “We have Bentonville, Arkansas here, we have Liberty North from Kansas City; they’re top 25 in the country. To be able to compete against guys like that that’s what we’re looking for, because if we can compete against guys like that, then we should be able to go toe-to-toe with most people in the SCA.”
The Missouri high school football season starts on August 27th.
