Another Sneak Preview Possible in 7-on-7 Tournament

Ready for Hart-Canyon--again?

The two Santa Clarita Valley rivals, who played each other last month in the L.A. Games, could meet again on the football field this weekend.

Hart is playing host to a 16-team seven-on-seven football tournament Saturday. Games will be played at Hart and at Placerita Junior High beginning at 9:15 a.m.

The tournament follows a round-robin format with four brackets of four teams each. The bracket breakdown is: Canyon, Mater Dei, Newbury Park and Point Loma; Loyola, Buena, Antelope Valley and Channel Islands; Bell-Jeff, Hart, Westlake and Notre Dame; Beverly Hills, Thousand Oaks, Nordhoff and West Torrance.

The winner of each bracket will compete in a final round. The two finalists will be playing their fifth game of the day.

“It’ll probably be really hot there,” Thousand Oaks Coach Bob Richards said. “We’ll almost have to carry kids to the car at the end of the day.”

In the quarterfinals of the L.A. Games, Hart defeated Canyon, 7-6, in a game both coaches agreed meant little. What really matters is the Sept. 12 date the teams have at College of the Canyons. That is the season opener for both teams.

Add Football: Teams usually avoid playing members of their own league in seven-on-seven games for obvious reasons. Marmonte League rivals Thousand Oaks, Westlake, Newbury Park, and Channel Islands will all play in the Hart tournament, however.

“It is odd, but we all know Hart Coach Rick Scott well and know he’ll run a first-class tournament,” Westlake Coach George Contreras said.

Back in action, not traction: Don MacLean, Simi Valley’s junior center, is expected to play for the Pioneers against Westlake tonight after resting a sore back over the weekend. MacLean injured his lower back while lifting weights Thursday and was forced to take himself out of Saturday’s game in the Bosco Tech tournament and missed an exhibition all-star game that night against a Sonny Hill League team from Philadelphia.

MacLean has maintained a hectic schedule since school ended less than three weeks ago, playing for Simi Valley, Mid-Valley and traveling to Princeton for the Nike all-star camp. Still, MacLean dismisses his busy schedule as a factor in his injury.

“It was just a freak thing,” MacLean said. “I wasn’t doing anything out of the ordinary. It never happened before and I don’t think it’ll happen again.”

Rockfish’s Josh Oppenheimer of Notre Dame isn’t as fortunate as MacLean. Oppenheimer fractured his right wrist at the start of the summer league season and is out for the rest of the summer.