With the TSSAA dead period in the rearview mirror and the 2022 football season around the corner, the Community Vikings recently spent a week participating in 7-on-7s at three different schools.
Coach Chris Grooms discussed how the team fared in the competition at Riverdale, with many of the opponents from bigger classifications.
"It went well. We had a lot of playing time," Grooms said. "At Riverdale, we competed and went to overtime with Summit in the tournament. Summit turned around and beat Oakland, which lets you know where we were at."
"We won three out of five games over there, so we were in the mix," Grooms added. "We're still lacking some skill positions with people being out on vacation. So we had to get creative with our coaching strategy."
The Vikings have spent time acclimating per TSSAA rules.
"Tonight is acclimation, so we've got three days of helmets," Grooms explained. "Even though we've been in helmets doing 7-on-7s, we've still got to do three days of helmets. That's the rules for TSSAA because my linemen have not been out here."
"They've got to put them on to make sure they get used to the heat and having the helmet on," Grooms said. "Then after that, we're able to go to shoulder pads and helmets. The next Monday, we're able to go to full pads."
The team has spent the off-season in the weight room to prepare for the upcoming season.
"We lifted Mondays, Tuesdays, and Thursdays, and then on Tuesday and Thursday nights we would come out here and do our 7-on-7 work," Grooms said.
Some new faces are a part of the 2022 team.
"We've got a lot of new players," Grooms said. "We've got a couple that transferred in and a bunch of freshmen coming out of Liberty."