In what was perhaps a bit of a surprise, Owyhee HS defeated Rocky Mountain in the final of the Western regional 7s held in Idaho over the weekend.
Thank you to Mandie Disbrow for the photos.
The surprise was mainly that there was significant talent from outside the Gem State and most would have pegged Summit HS out of Colorado as the favorite, rather than a local team.
But it was indeed two Idaho teams that made the championship match.
Summit did actually win their pool quite comfortable, but the top teams in each pool were clearly #1, and the other three were all from Idaho—Rocky Mountain, Eagle HS, and Owyhee.
That set up quarterfinals:
Owyhee vs Meridian
Eagle HS vs Mountain View
Summit vs Marana
Rock Mountain vs Panthers
The other four teams played in a round-robin through Day Two, and here are the scores:
Liberty 36 Grackles 5
Summit Tigers 12 Monarch HS 0
Monarch 17 Grackles 5
Summit Tigers 24 Liberty 22
Summit Tigers 19 Grackles 0
Liberty 26 Monarch 0
Summit indeed showed their depth with their Tigers squad taking 9th, edging a tough Liberty side from Washington 24-22 in the key matchup.
Quarterfinals and Semis
All the pool winners won but basically the same margin of victory: 15-0, 19-5, 17-0, and 24-0.
In the semifinals, Rocky Mountain beat Eagle 22-7 in a rematch of the state semifinals from the week before. And then Owyhee pulled off the big upset, taking care of Summit 27-7.
A few mishandled kickoffs by Summit allowed Owyhee for short fields, and with the speed of Kanani Watts and Clair Smith, Owyhee was able to burn Summit on the outside.
Summit beat Eagle 12-7 in the 3rd-4th game on a clutch late try, while in the consolation bracket for 5th Mountain View torched the Panthers out of Oregon 26-0 and then held off local rivals Meridian 10-7. Arizona's Marana held off Panthers 24-20 to take 7th.
