Belleville wins 7on7 Gauntlet at Fordson HS on Wednesday (Story + Recap/Top Performers)
Fordson High School has hosted the top 7on7 tournament the past two seasons and this years tournament certainly lived up to its billing. The tournament featured 12 elite programs: Belleville, Cass Tech, Chippewa Valley, Clarkston, De La Salle, DeWitt, Flint Carman-Ainsworth, Fordson, Lowell, Southfield A&T, Waterford Mott, and West Bloomfield.
The 12 teams were divided into pools and each team played 3 pool play games before breaking into a single elimination playoff.
Belleville was the last team standing as they defeated Chippewa Valley in the championship final. Belleville beat D3 powerhouse DeWitt in the semi-final and Chippewa Valley eliminated the hosts, Fordson.
Belleville sophomore QB Christian Dhue-Reid has a cannon arm and despite being young, makes a lot of tough throws and is pretty consistent.
The MSU commits were on full display Wednesday and they certainly performed at high-level. Belleville 2019 WR/DB Julian Barnett was phenomenal on both sides of the ball throughout the day, Chippewa Valley 2019 LB Marcel Lewis helped lead his team to the finals, West Bloomfield 2019 WR Tre Mosley had the best performance of the day, as he's extremely polished and doesn't drop anything, Flint Carman-Ainsworth DE Mike Fletcher worked out as a TE/OLB and was a big-time standout.
On the flip side of the Big 10, the Wolverines lone in-state skill position commit, Andre Seldon of Belleville had a several nice break-ups throughout the day and stepped in front of a pass in the finals for an interception.
Belleville 2020 WR Jalen Williams and West Bloomfield 2019 WR Tyrone Broden had beautiful 1-handed touchdown grabs late in the day.
Flint Carman-Ainsworth 2020 QB Dustin Fletcher, a dual-sport athlete who played basketball for the Class A Quarterfinalists, is looking more and more like a Power 5 QB as he ages.
Chippewa Valley is our pre-season pick to win the MAC Red and that is a strong statement. The Big Reds had 3 standout DB's on Wednesday; David Ellis (WR/DB) who is committed to Central Michigan, Ja'von Kimpson (DB/WR) who is committed to Miami-Ohio, and 2019 CB Marcel Duncan who had 2 interceptions in their semi-final win as well as a near interception in the final, where he broke and exploded to break up a pass.
Stay tuned throughout the upcoming two weeks as we post highlights and other top players from the event in our video tab (click here to view).