Regional Girls School 7s in Idaho a Harbinger for a National Event
Regional Girls School 7s in Idaho a Harbinger for a National Event
A new, potentially national-level girls HS 7s tournament is set to be held in Idaho this weekend.
The GARHS 7s will feature 12 teams, five of which are from the host state, but with seven from various states around the West.
This event got started after a conversation between Maurice Matsumori and Summit HS Head Coach Karl Barth at the NAI 7s in Salt Lake City. They were looking for a higher level tournament bringing top teams from fall play to one tournament, and this is what came out of it.
“The key thing is that we were looking for school teams,’ Matsumori emphasized. “We’d love for it to go national, but it should be school teams and not teams that bring players in from a wide area. There are already tournaments for that. The response has been great and we’re really excited about it.”
Four pools of three teams compete in pool play on Friday at Owyhee HS in Idaho.
The teams are from five different states: Idaho, Colorado, Washington, Oregon, and Arizona. Matsumori reached out to other regions as well and he said there was strong interest from those states for next year.
Here are the teams:
Rocky Mountain (Idaho)
Eagle (Idaho)
Owyhee (Idaho)
Meridian (Idaho)
Mountain View (Idaho)
Liberty (Washington)
Grackles (Oregon)
Panthers (Oregon)
Monarch HS (Colorado)
Summit HS (Colorado)
Summit Tigers (Colorado)
Marana HS (Arizona)
The pool games will go on through Friday afternoon into the evening, playing on two fields. On Saturday, the top two from each pool will go into the Cup Quarterfinals, followed by semifinals and finals for 1st and for 5th.
The teams that finish 3rd in their pool will play semis and finals decide 9th through 12th. Every team will play a placement game and will play at least four games.
Could this grow into a national tournament? Already there is interest from other areas. Matsumori’s commitment to making this a school-team event sets it apart from other events and could be a factor in driving more school-oriented girls teams.
Stay with GRR to track scores and reports.
