The Road To Crown – San Antonio, TX presented many standouts in bracket on Saturday. Everyone came in with a point to prove they are the best and force to be reckoned with in the future. Some familiar faces, along with some new foes looking to stamp their name. Now we all know there’s no I in team so here’s a few squads that were impressive during pool play…
The South Texas Elite Boyz are no strangers to the DR7 circuit and most certainly brings the energy to any tournament they’re in. STE were one of the last teams to participate in pool play on Saturday. They didn’t start their first game until 4:00 PM and ran all 3 games consecutively. Out the gate, STE faced fellow powerhouse 4th Quarter Mentality (national squad) out of Lafayette, Louisiana. As expected, this game was nip and tuck from start to finish. STE finally prevailed in the end by making a defensive stand to seal the victory, which gave 4th Quarter Mentality their only loss on Saturday. The STE Boyz followed that up by edging out Team Stealth and leaving Kerrville Tivy with an egg to earn the number 3 seed. Let’s see if they can continue with the momentum as they look to add another DR7 trophy to their shelf
San Antonio’s own – Elite House entered Saturday as a home favorite. They went without a blemish in pool play, giving them the number 2 seed overall for Championship Sunday. If you know anything about Elite House, they never dwell on kids with stars. If you can ball, YOU CAN BALL! Their most impressive win came against a friendly rival in the SA Ducks. Elite House have a stingy defense and can score quick or methodically. It wouldn’t surprise anyone if they’re the last team standing so keep a close eye on Elite House to potentially make a deep run on championship Sunday.
The New Mexico Heat were newbies compared to most of the contenders. They were ultra competitive in every game. Although they were undersized in pretty much every matchup, they had serious speed on the outside and a quarterback who can absolutely sling it! Heat favorite play was the go ball. Their objective seems like it was to just simply rip your heart out in one or two play drives. They did whatever they wanted, even threw a fade to the quarterback. They lived off of the big play and even though teams knew it was coming, it’s hard to stop blazing speed and pinpoint accuracy. Expect New Mexico Heat to be a major player on championship Sunday.
PPG JackBoyz are also from the 210 so playing in their backyard is as uncomfortable as it gets for other teams. They showed why they are a top ranked team in the state of Texas and heavy favorites in The Road To The Crown. PPG is just what the name stands for – a Pride(Pryde) Performance Group and it was definitely displayed on the field in bracket play. Earning the top seed in the tournament by dominating on defense by giving up a total of 20 points throughout the day. One game against The Corpus Christi Stars, they only scored 6 points but it was a shutout so the lack of offense didn’t even matter. It’ll be interesting to see other teams offensive game plan going into Sunday. PPG JackBoyz can undoubtedly walk away with championship gold on Sunday.
Honorable Mentions: San Antonio Ducks, CM Naturals, South Texas Rush and 4th Quarter Mentality (national)