Members of the Sealy Tiger football team wrapped up 7-on-7 action in the Taylor High School passing league last week and enter the final phase of their offseason with only a month to go before two-a-days start.

Sealy played two games a day the last four Wednesdays of June against Katy ISD opponents from Jordan, Mayde Creek and Taylor High Schools and didn’t lose a single game.

In the final week of action, the Tigers took down Taylor 43-18 and Jordan 44-16 with many of the returning customers dealing damage. Graham Samonte, Haden Wernecke, Parker DeBerry, Julius Aguilar, Reid Miller, Tanner Ellis and Ethan Hart all found the end zone to help Sealy outscore its opponents. Senior classmates Connor Krenek and Jonathan Monterroza bookended the scoring and provided the final touchdown of the summer before lightning forced a premature end to the final game.

Tiger Offensive Coordinator Chris Carruthers said junior quarterback D’vonne Hmielewski was able to take advantage of calling his own plays and adjusting to what the defenses gave him.

“Puts a little bit more pressure on the quarterback to see things and call things,” Carruthers said last Wednesday. “D’vonne’s able to grow in that department, this is his first 7-on-7 spring he’s had so he’s able to see it from the caller’s perspective. I’m in his ear a little bit helping him out but for the majority, he’s doing all of that and the receivers are able to communicate. It’s good for the kids to be around each other and grow.”

Head Coach Shane Mobley agreed the team unity formed in the summer heat will only help the squad down the road.

“The camaraderie and coming together, that’s huge. You’ve got some kids that haven’t played together that are now playing together, incoming freshmen see it and get wide-eyed a little bit,” Mobley said. “This is not going to determine one ounce who’s on varsity and JV, but it shows us footwork, hipwork, speed, knowledge; little things like that and what’s great is when they come off and say, ‘Coach I got beat because I did not …’ that means they’re understanding.”

Now, the student-athletes transition to the homestretch of the offseason with only strength and conditioning workouts on the schedule for July.

“Coach (Jimmie) Osborne breaks up our spring and summer really into two sessions so we finish our first session then he starts to gear the workouts toward getting ready – we’re always trying to get bigger faster stronger – but he’ll gear it toward making sure we have the kids ready to endure the season,” Carruthers said. “When we come back next week, that’ll be where we’ll gear towards. We’ll still throw and catch a ton, it just won’t be in 7-on- 7 setting, more quarterbacks and receivers getting timing down and getting our bodies ready for what’s hopefully a long season.”

To make it through what the team hopes will be a long season, multiple cohorts of players will likely be relied upon and Mobley said the rotating roster at passing league will only help.

“It’s been like a different crew every week, you got some of the same kids. Kids got out and got a look and got to play a little bit, that’s big,” Mobley said. “The kids are staying busy in their summer, at this time last summer we were barely opened up so for them to get involved – and we’ve had some incoming freshmen come in and play each week – so from what we see, it’s all great.”

Carruthers also took advantage of the time to test out some weapons and try out athletes at some different positions.

“(The example is) a kid like Thomas Clark, who is a linebacker but is also a great athlete that we’d love to use on offense,” Carruthers said. “Then you have another group of five or six kids battling for two spots and you’re able to see what they do well and what they don’t do well. That’s the good part is those guys trying to figure out and you get to see who wants to go out there and make plays and who sits in the back so it’s always fun to observe from the sideline.”