By: Kylie Emery
I had the privilege to travel with Charlotte’s, CBA 7v7 Elite to Nashville,Tenn. The team attended Tennessee State University’s football camp where they played three pool play games all leading up to the final championship game. CBA lost the first pool play game to Tennessee’s own elite team, then won the final two games. By winning two, it led them to the championship where they played the same Tennessee team they had lost to earlier in the day.
Head coach Corey Alexander warmed up quarterbacks Cameron Bauer, Heath Barringer (Ardrey Kell HS 2017) and Keenan Black (Concord HS 2016), as well as receivers Jackson Sinclair, Cade McDonald (Ardrey Kell 2017) Dionte Deberry (Sun Valley 2017) and Andre “A.J” Lanton (Lake Norman 2019). Coach Ryan Williams warmed up the defensive players P.J. Hall (Concord 2016), Collin Myers and Shawn Anderson (South Pointe 2017).
While the Elite warmed up, they observed other teams playing across the indoor field. They were able to see their competition and ways in which they could defeat them. The Elite dramatically turned around their performance after their game one loss and hustled out a win against Alabama Elite (20-19).
“I felt extremely well with my performance,” said quarterback Keenan Black before the second pool game. “My receivers caught the ball especially well, which made me the happiest.”
Before the final championship, the instructors announced two players from each team who received the MVP award. From CBA those winners were Bryan Digsby (offense) and P.J Hall (defense).
“I feel like we executed well on offense and the defense pulled us out of a lot of situations,” Bryan Digsby said. “Overall we played together as a team, which helped us get the win.”
Before the championship, quarterback Cameron Bauer said he felt great about the team and their final game.
“I feel great,” he said. “Our team is really up there, we’re all pretty hype, we’re ready to go, we fixed the way we were playing and we have momentum this time. [For the championship], I will be throwing shorter routes, getting the ball out quicker, and just move faster so we can get down the field and score.”
And CBA Elite did just that. The team played Tennessee Elite, where the stats were the best Coach Alexander had seen all day. The routes were smoother, the execution was quicker and the defense worked together to allow the first downs and touchdown.
CBA had two interceptions during the final game, but lost the championship 7-6 after the Tennessee Elite was able to redo the game-ending extra point.