Football season will soon be knocking on doors of fans across the nation.

Until then, fans endure through the dog days of summer hanging our hats on the predictions of experts and the mock lineups drawn on napkins.

Also among those conversation topics emerge 7-on-7 tournaments, which have already started. They signal a turning of the page in the history books, shifting the focus to the class of 2020.

In Sealy, plenty of playmakers on both sides of the ball recently earned their diplomas but plenty of their teammates who were beside them on the field were cheering from the stands for their brothers one more time.

Now, it’s their turn to step up and be those playmakers being talked about on Friday nights. Taking the next step to that level involves going through the warm-up phase of 7-on-7 football and recently a state-qualifying tournament was held at Needville High School.

The Tigers were joined by teams from Sweeny, Hitchcock and Stafford in their pool for the June 1 competition, while Needville, Bay City, Hamshire-Fannett and El Campo made up the other pool, eventually coming together in the finals to determine who advances to the state stage.

Sealy grabbed wins over Stafford (38-21) and Sweeny (28-24) but fell to Hitchcock (39-26) and did not advance to the semi-final round where Hitchcock fell to Bay City, 28-21. Sweeny took its decision with Needville, 42-12, and handed Bay City a 30-27 defeat in the championship to qualify for state.

At the beginning of the offseason, Tiger head coach Shane Mobley mentioned that the Needville tournament would be the only tournament of those stakes his squad would enter this summer. He said there will also be competitions with local teams like Brazos and Hempstead as well.