Monsignor Edward Pace High School’s football season doesn’t officially start until later this summer, but the Spartans already have a championship in 2022 to celebrate.
The school topped 39 other teams and won the “Sling and Shoot” camp title at the University of South Florida on June 16.
The tournament is a 7-on-7 event, one where players get evaluated and watched by college coaches.
Pace defeated Cocoa High School 31-27 in the championship game, the last of nine contests that the Spartans played in the event.
“This was the deepest field we’ve ever had, 40 teams started today and you guys were the last team standing right here,” University of South Florida coach Jeff Scott told the Spartans at the tournament’s trophy presentation. “Congratulations on behalf of our staff. ... Take this, continue to work and have a great year coming up this fall.”
There are numerous 7-on-7 events around the country, with colleges and universities using them as a recruiting tool to get prospects onto their campus.
It’s not uncommon for some players to receive scholarship offers on the spot from those host institutions.
Pace also saw coaches from, among other schools, the University of Miami, Florida International University and Florida Atlantic University visit with their players during the spring practice season.
Pace went 4-6 last season and enters 2022 with a new head coach in Anthony Walker Sr. His son, Anthony Walker Jr., is one of Pace’s all-time great players and will enter his sixth NFL season later this summer.
Walker Jr. played college football at Northwestern University, spent the first four years of his pro career with the Indianapolis Colts and is entering his second year with the Cleveland Browns.
Among some of the other NFL players Pace has produced over the years: Current Miami Hurricanes assistant coach DeMarcus Van Dyke and Kayvon Webster -- whose NFL career included a Super Bowl win when he was with the Denver Broncos.