For the first time since 1997, there will be no Texas 7-on-7 State Champion crowed this summer as the Texas 7-on-7 Board of Directors announced the 2020 championships, scheduled to be held in late in June in College Station, are cancelled as a direct result of the COVID-19 pandemic.

On Friday, Texas Governor Greg Abbott announced the closing of all Texas schools for the remainder of the year and the UIL quickly followed suit a few hours later cancelling spring sports. It was a long shot for 7-on-7 to be played in June, but as late as Saturday morning several coaches on the board held out hope that the summer activity could be salvaged.

“We want to be in line with the UIL and THSCA, on Friday when the governor announced that every school was going to be closed for the year and with some districts whose school years that goes into June, we just felt like it was the prudent thing to go ahead and cancel our events for this year,” said Texas 7-on-7 president and Rowlett head coach Doug Stephens.

After some optimism early on Friday that 7-on-7 State Qualifying could be salvaged this summer, the winds of change began to blow in Saturday evening as word began to filter of a possible Monday announcement cancelling Texas 7-on-7 events. “We are disappointed for sure, but we want our kids, their families and everyone to be safe,” said Coach Stephens.

With one of the summer’s big events off the table, Texas High School Football coaches, players and fans will now await the UIL’s guidance on what types of summer strength and conditioning will be allowed if/when the state begins to loosen social distancing guidelines which were put into place in mid-March. 

The next big offseason marker for the summer will be the annual Texas High School Coaches Association (THSCA) Coaching School and Convention scheduled for July 19-21 in San Antonio, as of late last week the THSCA announced that coaching school was still scheduled to proceed as scheduled. 

_____

Become a DCTF Insider today for exclusive insight from the best team of reporters in the Lone Star State! CLICK HERE!

Your subscription will include:

• Instant access to all of our content that is marked Insider at www.texasfootball.com.
  • Includes exclusive podcasts, recruiting news, and our full High School Football rankings and score predictors
• A mailed copy of the Dave Campbell’s Texas Football Preview 
• A mailed copy of the Recruiting/Rising Edition of Dave Campbell’s Texas Football
• Access to Dave Campbell’s Texas Football vast array of archived magazines