It’s been a good summer of 7-on-7 football for the Airline Vikings.
Airline won the Northwest Louisiana 7-on-7 Passing League title last week with a victory over Green Oaks at Captain Shreve.
After finishing 8-3 in a season that spanned the month of June, including games at Airline and Haughton, the Vikings went into the final nine-team double-elimination tournament seeded No. 2.
They defeated Haughton in the first round and Green Oaks in the winners’ bracket semifinals.
Airline reached the championship game with an overtime victory over Southwood in the winners’ bracket finals.
Huntington was the top seed. Calvary Baptist, Captain Shreve, Booker T. Washington and Mansfield also competed.
Airline’s Jamal Johnson and Green Oaks’ Dave Sanders shared MVP honors.
As he has done all summer, Airline head coach Bo Meeks rotated quarterbacks Brad Fream and Jordan Gladney each series.
Johnson, Carson Slack, Antavious Freeman and Daniel Smith were the receivers with Thomas Williams at running back.
The defensive backs were Melvin Smith, Christian Jones and twins Brandon and Brian Marshall with Brian Feaster at linebacker.
Airline finished runner-up to Captain Shreve in the Benton Tiger 7-on-7 Charity Invitational last month at Freedom Fields.
“It was a good opportunity for us to get better,” Meeks said. “We didn’t start very well the first time out and then really improved the first time we played. Really pleased with where we finished in June.”
The Vikings are taking this week off. Then they will have three more weeks of workouts before preseason practice officially begins July 30 with conditioning drills.
Meeks is pleased with how the offseason has gone overall.
“You look around and see inexperience but at the same time I see talent and good, hard-working kids that want to prepare to be successful. I’m excited about that,” he said.
“I think that’s one reason we showed marked improvement from the beginning of June to the end of June just in 7-on-7. It’s not real football, but it’s a measurable area where you can see improvement. These guys are hungry to be great, so I’m really excited about it.”
— Russell Hedges, rhedges@bossierpress.com
Jordan Gladney is still shining…I hope continue to shine, he’s a very talented kid. I love watching him play…he can lead Airline back to the playoff.