Lake Highlands isn’t competing in this weekend’s 7-on-7 state tournament, but the Wildcats had a highly successful summer competing in the high school version of flag football.
Lake Highlands finished 9-3 overall and won its summer league, which ended July 1. The Cats were 7-2 in a league that featured Plano West, Hebron and Sachse. The went 2-1 in the Wylie state qualifier, losing to West Mesquite on a last-second interception return.
LH didn’t enter another qualifier because coach Scott Smith said the program gets what it needs out of 7-on-7 without having to extend the season with a trip to College Station for the state tournament.
"We feel like we came out of our 7-on-7 stuff with where we wanted to be," Smith said. "My whole emphasis on 7-on-7 is yes, we want to win. But we also want to use it as an opportunity to get a bunch of kids some playing time. We felt really good about that."
More, after the jump:
Smith said quarterback Ricky Zorn looked good running the 7-on-7 offense, as did running back/receiver Desmond Roland. Receivers Anthony Harris and D. (Deondre) Glover had good summers, and youngsters Devonte Sunwengham and Michael Wright also excelled.
Defensively, Smith liked what he saw out of cornerback David Green, safety Reggie Gibson and linebackers Avery Hatcher and Roderick Mackey.
Gibson will be taking the place of former All-District safety Travis Crawford while Hatcher has the imposing task of taking the spot occupied by former All-District linebacker Andrew Atamah.
"Right now what we’re doing from a defensive standpoint is getting our young guys as many reps as we possibly can," Smith said. "Guys like Avery and Reggie, we’re really counting on them to step up and see what they can do. It was real important that they have great springs and they’ve done that."
