Storm, Ram freshman get 7-on-7 reps

Cleveland High School hosted freshman teams for multiple matches of 7-on-7s July 18 before a lightning storm ended the night.

“It’s tough to really see where you are when you’re going against each other all the time. So, we always like to get together with other kids, and you know, compete a little bit,” said RRHS freshman head coach Harvey Carreathers, who is going into his third year of coaching at RRHS.

The freshman teams in attendance were Cleveland, Rio Rancho, Cibola and Valencia.

On the offensive side, 7-on-7s are important for developing the passing game. Things like timing, route precision, catch radius and chemistry between the passer and receiver are in full display.

“It was a great day for us to come out and compete and actually see how far the kids are coming along during the summer. If they learned their routes right, also just a great opportunity to get some looks against different teams, different defenses, different fronts,” CHS freshman offensive coordinator Sean Christopher said.

Freshman Cleveland quarterback Michael Denison threw the ball with confidence and went through all his reads before pulling the trigger on a lot of his throws.

“He had a great game; he was able to go through his progressions the way we’ve taught him, so that’s always huge when you get your quarterback to understand the offense and make the correct progressions," said Christopher, who is in his third year at Cleveland.

Also having a nice day was freshman Cleveland receiver Isaiah Cavazos, who had a couple of touchdowns, including a long catch-and-run touchdown, and a Moss on a high ball. Christopher also shouted out freshman Dylan Messer, who impressed with his speed.

Making some plays for the Rams was freshman receiver Joaquin Nunez, who showed great ball tracking and had sticky hands.

On the defensive side, 7-on-7s allow the opportunity to experiment with different coverage packages including cover two, nickel, dime and help improve communication amongst the defense.

Throughout the day, the Rams defense was vocal, from the off-ball linebackers to the secondary, each player played with grit and did not want to miss their assignment.

“I think these guys have a pretty good competitive streak with them. They compete. They kind of get after it a little bit, so that’s a positive that we can definitely build around going forward,” Carreathers said.