St. Dominic 7-on-7 standouts

The Chaminade football team’s new-look offense was on display during the St. Dominic High School 7-on-7 Tournament on Friday and it led to a championship run for the Red Devils. Coach Antoine Torrey’s squad survived the scorching temperatures and a late comeback attempt by Rockwood Summit to claim the title with a 19-14 victory on Friday afternoon. The run to the championship was highlighted by Class of 2022 standout Oklahoma State commit <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="37535" first="Cameron" last="Epps"]</strong>, who was recruited as a cornerback but will also make an impact offensively at wide receiver this fall. He was the Red Devils’ starting quarterback a year ago and had a successful season at that spot as more of a running threat than passing threat. This year, Chaminade is looking for Epps to be a bigger threat to opposing defenses. "He’s our best kid," Torrey said. "He played at receiver and played really well, scored quite a few touchdowns. That’s our guy. We’re going to find ways to get him the ball this season. That’s our goal. That’s why we took him away from the quarterback position, so we could use him more in the offense." With Epps moving to wide receiver, where he will team up with another Division I wide receiver prospect in 2022 standout <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="103078" first="Elijah" last="Griffin"]</strong>, Torrey’s troops need a new quarterback -- and one who can distribute the ball effectively to Epps, Griffin and a talented cast of skill position players. "We’ve got two young quarterbacks that we are working -- <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="103784" first="Drake" last="Faust"]</strong> and <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="174949" first="Dalton" last="Hosack"]</strong>," Torrey said. "We are trying to get them the reps they need so they can continue to improve because we want to move Cam around a little more this year. We’re going to need them to deliver on third down to get us the first downs. I was impressed with the way Drake handled the offense when we needed him to get first downs and keep the ball on our side." Faust is a 2023 prospect who saw some varsity action a year ago. Hosack, who throws left-handed, is a 2024 kid does not have even Faust’s limited experience on the varsity level. That duo was able to make enough plays to outlast a Rockwood Summit team led by one of the area’s top quarterbacks and featuring a talented roster behind him. [caption id="attachment_174980" align="alignright" width="300"]<a href="https://prephoops-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/redzone/uploads/2021/07/IMG_6226-crop-1882x1236-1627088017.jpg"><img class="size-medium wp-image-174980" src="https://prephoops-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/redzone/uploads/2021/07/IMG_6226-crop-1882x1236-1627088017-300x197.jpg" alt="[player_tooltip player_id=" width="300" height="197" /></a> Photo: Nate Latsch PrepRedzone.com[/caption]"I thought <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="172272" first="Mason" last="Brown"]</strong> played pretty darn well," Summit coach Eric Stewart said of his rising senior quarterback when asked who played well. "<strong>[player_tooltip player_id="174950" first="Camden" last="Pye"]</strong>, <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="99928" first="Drew" last="Krobath"]</strong>, I think <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="103401" first="Kaden" last="Wallace"]</strong>. We had some guys play pretty darn good out there in the secondary and the receiving corps. I was pretty happy with the way we played today." The big difference in the championship game on Friday was Chaminade’s defense, led by Epps and outside linebacker <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="174964" first="Thomas" last="Prevost"]</strong>, which stepped up with clutch interceptions. "They can lock you down," Stewart said of Chaminade. "They’ve got some secondary guys, don’t they?" Troy Buchanan defeated defending state champion Jackson to finish in third place. St. Dominic fielded two teams in the eight-team event, which was rained out a week earlier and had to be rescheduled, and Fort Zumwalt West and Vianney rounded out the field. Some of the other players who impressed included: [caption id="attachment_174984" align="alignright" width="300"]<a href="https://prephoops-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/redzone/uploads/2021/07/IMG_6427-crop-2038x1338-1627088129.jpg"><img class="size-medium wp-image-174984" src="https://prephoops-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/redzone/uploads/2021/07/IMG_6427-crop-2038x1338-1627088129-300x197.jpg" alt="[player_tooltip player_id=" width="300" height="197" /></a> Photo: Nate Latsch PrepRedzone.com[/caption]Troy Buchanan’s junior quarterback <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="37718" first="Charos" last="Sutton"]</strong> and junior <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="37663" first="Jahkai" last="Lang"]</strong>, an outstanding linebacker-defensive end prospect who has already attracted several Division I offers. Quarterback [player_tooltip player_id="174970" first="Cameron" last="Marchi"] has the unenviable task of replacing state championship-winning [player_tooltip player_id="37241" first="Cael" last="Welker"] as Jackson’s quarterback, but he looked good on Friday and coach Brent Eckley has a strong resume for developing quarterbacks who put up eye-popping statistics and win lots of games. <em><strong>You can follow Nate Latsch on Twitter at <a href="http://www.twitter.com/natelatsch">@natelatsch</a>.</strong></em>