COLLEGE STATION - The 2022 Texas 7-on-7 State Tournament wrapped up Saturday afternoon with DeSoto taking home their second state title by defeating Midlothian Heritage, 27-14, in the Division I championship game.

The Eagles join Hitchcock (Division II) and Miles (Division III) as the champions.

As usual, the event brough large crowds to the Brazos Valley and plenty of exciting action throughout all three days. DeSoto becomes just the sixth school to win multiple 7-on-7 state titles joining Celina (2000, 2007, 2009, 2012), Graham (2013, 2014, 2017) Southlake Carroll (1998, 2013), Lake Travis (2010, 2017) and Kaufman (2016, 2021) as two-time winners. DeSoto won the 2011 State 7-on-7 crown as well. 

The final day of action wrapped up with bracket play in Division I. We started in the Consolation Bracket where Frisco Wakeland posted a strong 5-0 day to earn the consolation crown as the Wolverines beat Clear Brook, 34-6, Crandall, 27-25, defending champion Hebron, 28-21, Lake Travis, 28-26, and Katy Cinco Ranch, 26-20. That ended a 6-2 weekend for WHS who started out 0-2 in pool play.

The game of the day was easily a four-overtime thriller to open the morning in championship bracket as Colleyville Heritage edged out San Antonio Brandeis 56-54 in an absolute thriller. That emotional win may have taken the starch out of Colleyville who fell in the Round of 16 to A&M Consolidated, 40-19. 

The homestanding teams had a good day once again with Consolidated advancing to the quarterfinals before falling to Fort Bend Hightower, 20-19, while College Station lost to eventual champion DeSoto, 38-25, in the Round of 16. 

Midlothian Heritage, who won the Division II crown in 2018, made the transition to the Division I bracket this year with their move to Class 5A and the Jaguars showed they’ll remain a force statewide with a 6-2 weekend. Their only two losses were to San Benito in pool play and then to DeSoto in the title game. Heritage’s most impressive win of the day came in the quarterfinals as they jumped on Mesquite Horn early and held on for a 27-19 victory. 

Typically, the Austin area shows a lot of power in the 7-on-7 game with two-time champion Lake Travis and perennial power Austin Westlake leading the way. Both of those powers had tough pool play days on Friday and ended up in the consolation bracket, Lake Travis performed well winning three-games, but Westlake lost the opener Saturday morning. Buda Johnson had the best overall performance from Austin falling in the Round of 16 to Mesquite Horn. 

The question as the football season approaches, will be how do the three 7-on-7 champions do when the pads come on? The odds are all three will have successful seasons as DeSoto enters the fall as a top ten pre-season team in the 2022 DCTF magazine, fresh off back-to-back regional final appearances, the Eagles have designs on bringing home a state title. Hitchcock was 5-6 a year ago and made the playoffs, but the Bulldogs bring back a veteran squad that could be primed for a breakout season. Miles was 3-8 a year ago, but they expect to be much improved with sixteen starters returning.