There is something new going on during the off season that is gaining in popularity. They are called "7-on-7 Passing Tournaments." It is kind of like playground football with just a tad more structure. It pits two teams together on a half of a football field and the goal obviously, is to score more points than the other team does.

The rules are like this. Each team has an offense and a defense. When on offense, a team has 15 minutes to score as many touchdowns as possible. Those count as 7 points. The trick is that they can not run the ball from scrimmage. They have to pass the ball only! The quarterback also, only has 4 seconds to throw the ball. If he doesn't get rid of it, it's considered a dead play and a loss of down. They offense only has one opportunity to get a first down, which is at the 20-yard line. If the defense prevents the team from getting a first down in the allotted 4 downs, they are awarded 3 points. If they prevent the team from scoring in the allotted downs, they will again get 3 points. They can also get 3 points with an interception. That's what makes it interesting because if a team's offense has already finished their half and only managed to scored 21 points, and let's say the opposing team who is now on offense has 28 points, the defensive team that is behind could still win the game by making a combination of 3 stops or interceptions.

Greendale has already attended several of these this year. Coach Rob Stoltz and his staff decided to host one of their own here in Greendale. Of course Greendale has the perfect playing surface so why not. It was held at Greendale's Stephen J Gavinski Memorial Field, which is probably the only piece of real estate left in Greendale that is still green with the lack of rain we have been having. Several high school teams from around the area participated: Greendale Martin Luther, Racine Park, Racine Horlick, Wauwatosa West, Milwaukee Lutheran, Franklin, and of course Greendale. Oak Creek was also supposed to be there but they backed out at the last minute.

The tournament started at 9:00am. Each team played each other once. After that, they were seeded and placed on a double elimination style playoff bracket. This means that you could lose one game and still get to the final. If you lose two games you are done.

As it ended up, Greendale lost the first game against Racine Park, which meant that they had to win the rest of the games. This is good because you are still in the hunt, but it is not good because that means that you will end up playing 2 more games then the team that wins all of theirs to get to the final. Well, that's what Greendale did! They won their next 3 games to get to the final game against Racine Horlick. After 9 hours total of playing under the hot sun, Greendale prevailed by beating Horlick 28-17 and winning their own, 1st annual Panther Passing Tournament. No one gets a trophy or any kind of reward for winning the event, but they do get to carry the bragging rights from winning the competition.

The Greendale Panther Touchdown Club aided in this event by running a concession stand that provided all of the necessary nourishment to sustain life. Hamburgers, hot dogs, candy, fruit, Gatorade, soda, and of course water, which really proved valuable for a day like that day was.

This pretty much concludes all of the offseason events that the Panthers will participate in. The next thing they will do is pick up their equipment on August 10th, and officially start their season with their first practice being on the 11th. They will have 16 days to put everything together before their home opener against Milwaukee Lutheran on Thursday August 27th at home.