Posted: Tue, 5 Jul 2011 11:43 AM - 15,516 Readers

By: Keith MacPherson

With the completion of all the state qualifying tournaments over the weekend, the field for the 2011 Texas State 7 on 7 Tournament has been set.

Montgomery, Willis and The Woodlands will be among the 64 teams in the Division I – made up of Class 4A and 5A schools – in the annual tournament that will be held on the campus of Texas A&M in College Station on July 15-16.

The tournament is set up in a pool-play format with the top two teams in each pool advancing to the championship bracket. This year’s state tournament pools will be announced next Monday.

The State 7 on 7 Tournament has grown immensely in recent years since its inception in 1998. The sport of 7 on 7 is a pass-only, backs and receivers competition.

Class 4A Lake Travis won the 2010 and became only the third school to win both the 7 on 7 title and fall football title in the same year. Lake Travis also became the third Austin area school in four years to win the Division I crown – Georgetown in 2007, Round Rock Stony Point in 2009 and Lake Travis last year.

Montgomery will make its state tournament debut when the Bears’ 7 on 7 squad hits the field on July 15. Willis is making its second state tournament appearance – the other coming in 1999 – while The Woodlands is making its 12th appearance and has only missed two since the tournament began – 1998 and 2006.

Montgomery was the first Montgomery County team to qualify for the tournament with a runner up finish at the Manvel SQT. Willis qualified at the Lufkin SQT and The Woodlands punched its ticket at the Cy Falls SQT.

The Woodlands and Montgomery both are breaking in new quarterbacks on their 7 on 7 teams. Montgomery’s Ty Taliaferro – who saw time at both quarterback and wide receiver last season – has stepped in for the graduated Tyler Bolfing and The Woodlands Cooper Woodyard and Lance Miles have split time at quarterback in 7 on 7 competitions thus far.

Willis is led by the county’s top returning quarterback in Fred Nixon and Iowa State commit wide receiver Quan West. Nixon passed for more than 2,000 yards and 26 touchdowns while West caught 29 passed for 612 yards a year ago.