Organization news and notes

The Pearland Oilers competed in the Baytown Lee 7-on-7 tournament and came up short in their bid to qualify for the state tournament that will be held on the campus of Texas A&M on July 15-16 when 64 teams play for the state title.

This was the last state qualifying tournament that Pearland will participate in this summer.

The Oilers faced Bay City, Texas City, and West-Orange Stark in their four-team pool. Other teams entered in the tournament included Clear Creek, Lumberton, Stratford, St. Thomas, Baytown Lee, Clear Brook, Kingwood, Vidor, Klein Oak, La Porte, The Woodlands, and Westfield which completed the 16-team field.

The winner of each pool advanced to the semifinal round and the two teams playing in the championship game automatically qualified for the state tournament.

Pearland opened the tourney against Bay City and lost 46-27. The Oilers won the second game against West Orange-Stark in a close game 21-20 and then defeated Texas City 19-6, but the one loss to Bay City ended their hopes of advancing to the semifinals.

Baytown Lee and Westfield were the two finalists with both qualifying for the state tournament.

Pearland head coach Tony Heath encourages his players to participate that features the quarterbacks and receivers in the non-contact 7-on-7 action.
"The 7-on-7 is a good opportunity for our skill players to have an added opportunity to work together during the summer," Heath said. "7-on-7 provides additional work with our quarterbacks and receivers that will help familiarize them with one another when we get ready to compete during the fall."

Whether the Oilers qualify for the state tournament or not has never been a real priority for Heath as the real season begins when Pearland will host Fort Bend Kempner in their season opener on Friday, August 26.
The Oilers did have a good showing by those participating in the Baytown Lee tournament.

Quarterback Michael Speciale tossed three scoring passes to Justan Vaughn and Ernest Bush while Jeremick Rogers and Joe Lesser each caught one in the three games.

Pearland coaches are not allowed to coach the players so Heath called on former All-State running back and current UH standout Anthony Evans to take control of the team this year. Evans is assisted by his brother Dwayne.

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