MILTON – For 21 years running, local high school football fans have been clamoring for the annual Northeast 7v7 tournament, a premier prelude for the upcoming fall season.
The 2025 installment might just be the organization’s most anticipated chapter of all – a two-day showcase featuring 40 total schools from across the ISL and MIAA landscapes. During the Open tournament to kick things off Saturday, Damon Taylor connected with Columbia University commit Ellis Barnes for a game-clinching 40-yard touchdown pass, as BB&N captured its second straight title with a 24-18 victory over Plymouth South in the championship.
“7-on-7s is fun,” said BB&N coach Mike Willey. “It’s fun to compete. I think getting those guys together and letting them compete together is really good. But it’s not tackle football. There’s a lot of differences between tackle football and 7-on-7s. But it’s always good to compete, in whatever you’re doing. Whether it’s playing 7-on-7s, basketball, or tiddlywinks. You want guys to be competitive, and I thought our guys were competitive today.”
The title bout bore out as a chess match, as the ISL school traded blows with one of the top MIAA teams from the South Shore. Locked in a nail-biter with just under two minutes to play, Taylor opted to heave a shot for the end zone. Despite being contested, Barnes leaped over a pursuing corner, and hauled in a miraculous reception to ice things.
It was sweet vengeance for the Knights, who had faltered to the same Plymouth South squad earlier in the day.
“It means a lot,” Taylor said. “We come out here and compete. We get after it. Obviously, it’s a very hot day and we are down some guys, but this is really the standard. This is what we expect to do, because we expect to be a competing, high (level) team. That is the bar we set for ourselves – to exceed at all levels. On days like today, when everyone is tired, it’s hot out and it comes down to the last play, we expect to win that last play.”
Plymouth South was one of a handful of Patriot League schools that stood out during the showcase. During pool play, the Panthers knocked off a Catholic Conference opponent in Xaverian, before toppling BB&N with a last-second stop. They later defeated reigning Div. 4 Super Bowl champion and conference rival Scituate in the quarterfinals, before clinching a trip to the final with a win over Hockomock League powerhouse Mansfield. Panthers coach Darren Fruzzetti remains highly optimistic as his group attempts to make headway in a competitive field this season.
“I think that this is a really tightly-knit group,” Fruzzetti said. “We have a lot of seniors. Kids who have played, and paid their dues a couple of years. They all believe in each other. I just think that when they go out on the field, it doesn’t matter if it’s public or private. They just want to compete. I think you saw that in those two games. They just kind of stayed in it for each other, tried to score more points than the other team.”
Is this the year Brockton returns to the fold as a state heavyweight? Boxers fans have high hopes, given the recent play of sophomore quarterback Marcio Semedo. The rising star paced his group to a 4-0 record in pool play, then propelled the Boxers to the semifinals.
“I’m excited,” Semedo said. “I feel like our team has been working very hard in the offseason, and I feel like we’re ready for this season, for the (teams) coming up. We had a bad season last time, and it is motivation for us.”
