24 Teams, 5-6 Games, 1 Day

Hey Guys -

As I promised the other day, I’m kicking off my 2024 high school football coverage with a preview of my inaugural 7on7 tournament.

I’m a little nervous as it’s my first ever event, so fingers crossed that it goes well!

Teams

There will be 24 teams competing at Chelsea High School tomorrow:

We’ve got a healthy mix…. every division from 1-8 is represented!

The field should also be quite competitive - here’s some high level stats I’ve put together:

HALF the teams were in the playoffs last year, and almost a quarter of them (5) WON a playoff game.

Structure

We’re running a true tournament tomorrow - we will start the day with pool play, and the results of that pool play will seed our 3 championship brackets - ‘Gold’, ‘Silver’, and ‘Bronze’.

We obviously want to crown a Champ via the ‘Gold’ bracket…. but, also on my list here is the goal of getting every team at least 5 games.

Here are the pools:

I hope this will pass the eye test as balanced - I’ve put 2 returning playoff teams in each, plus I’ve tried to include a mix of enrollments.

Also, not that this matters, but if we look at last year’s final computer ratings, the pools are almost perfectly balanced.

Fun Stuff

We’re Filming Every Game

One of the fun things about my event is that every game will be filmed by our title sponsor, Snipback.

Snipback is a digital film platform trying to take on Hudl - they’re sick of seeing teams charged such a ridiculously high annual rate for their film needs.

They’re going to be showcasing how they can do it for cheaper at our 7on7 via their film classroom - after each game, teams will have the option to view their film live in Snipback’s classroom.

They’re also providing all film from the event in perpetuity on their platform.

I’m very excited for this guys - not only are they selling a great product, they’re also providing our 24 teams a ton of value.

We’re Giving Every Team a Free Wilson GST

Capitol Varsity Sports is our official Hard Goods Sponsor… they’re providing each team with a free Wilson GST.

I could tell you about what Capitol does, but I don’t think I can write better than my original tweet:

We’ve got Goodie Bags

Guardian Caps is sponsoring our tournament’s MVP award.

Every team who votes tomorrow will receive a free goodie bag filled with Guardian Sports swag.

We’re providing 12 free 7on7 tops to each team

Our tournament’s apparel provider is Raized Up.

They’ve generously provided 12 free 7on7 tops to every team in our tournament that wanted them.

Schedule + Predictions

We don’t know who’s going to make what bracket just yet, but we can take a look at our pool play games:

There are SIX matchups between returning playoff teams that are scheduled to happen during this time:

• Cros-Lex vs. Bath

• Williamston vs. Fenton

• Lake Orion vs. Redford Union

• ST Joe vs. Ann Arbor Huron

• ND Prep vs. Richmond

• Southfield vs. Chelsea

If things go chalk (chalk meaning how my 2023 computer model would project things), this will be our ‘Gold’ championship bracket:

• #1 Seed - Lake Orion

• #2 Seed - Southfield

• #3 Seed - ND Prep

• #4 Seed - Cros-Lex

• #5 Seed - Williamston

• #6 Seed - St Joe

• #7 Seed - Fenton

• #8 Seed - Chelsea

2023 computer ratings obviously have very little bearing on 2024 7on7 games (lol), BUT…. we don’t have much else to talk about, so you betcha I’m going to speculate here.

Also of note is my Instagram poll from yesterday…. I asked all of my followers who they thought would win out of these 4 choices:

1. Southfield

2. Lake Orion

3. ND Prep

4. The Field (21 other teams)

Option #4 took most of the votes here (it was something like 40%), with Southfield and ND Prep tying for second with around 25% each.

It really surprised me that those on Instagram didn’t give Lake Orion much love…. but who knows, it’s literally an Instagram poll, haha.

That’s all for today, guys!

I’ve got more content on the 2024 season coming next week - subscribe below so you don’t miss out!

Love,

Goose