NM Legacy aims to build upon experience gained in Las Vegas

Organized less than two months ago, the New Mexico Legacy travel 7-on-7 team, the first of its kind in the Land of Enchantment, was formally introduced to the big time this past weekend, facing some of the nation’s top 7-on-7 teams at a tournament in Las Vegas, NV that attracted coaches and players from all over the country. In all, the event attracted over 160 teams, including 70 teams in Legacy’s division alone. The good news for Legacy is they improved as the weekend went along, playing a pair of highly competitive games on Sunday before returning to New Mexico. “They put us against three of the top elite teams in the nation (on Saturday),” NM Legacy coach Ramar Watson told Prep Redzone New Mexico. “Some of those teams have been established for over 10 years and have Division I prospects. They were very organized with great coaching. All those teams recruit and had players from different states. They all had four or five coaches.” “For our guys, it was a little bit of a shock. In 7-on-7 in New Mexico, teams are not as physical as they were in las Vegas this past weekend. Our guys found out very quickly it was going to be very physical. The defenders had their hands on the offensive players right away. We had a hard time scoring in the first couple of games.” The schedule also did Legacy no favors. Saturday, they played three games back-to-back-to-back with little rest between games. Both of Legacy’s games Sunday went down to the wire. They faced a team from California in one game. “We started moving faster and getting the ball out quicker,” Watson said. “The defense started to play faster and play better. If we had played on Saturday the way we did on Sunday, things would have been different. We might have won two of our three games. Saturday, we probably weren’t ready. Sunday, we started clicking.” The bright side? Gaining the valuable experience in Las Vegas puts Legacy in position to win games at the RedZone Elite Tournament in Phoenix on March 5-6, Watson believes. “I believe what we did on our second day in las Vegas will translate to the first day in Phoenix,” Watson said. “Our guys learned it’s all about playing fast. Score fast and get on the ball fast. They’ve seen what’s it’s going to be like for all these tournaments. I really believe we’re going to do well in Phoenix.” Legacy, which returns to practice on Saturday, is going to add some elements to its offense that it picked up from other teams in Las Vegas, Watson said, adding Legacy could possibly add some players to its roster before the weekend. Watson said several Legacy players stood out with their performances in Las Vegas: <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="274977" first="Andres" last="Aguirre"]</strong> (RB, Cleveland), <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="274992" first="Tavon" last="Archibald"]</strong> (DB, West Mesa), <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="274980" first="Jackson" last="Cherry"]</strong> (DB, La Cueva) and <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="269965" first="Chris" last="Loera"]</strong> (WR, Los Lunas). https://twitter.com/NewMexicoLegacy/status/1495946641165418497 https://twitter.com/NewMexicoLegacy/status/1495663234413899777 https://twitter.com/NewMexicoLegacy/status/1495127764088721410 https://twitter.com/NewMexicoLegacy/status/1495966413919604739 &nbsp;