Mainland, Flagler Palm Coast, Father Lopez compete in Bethune-Cookman's 7-on-7 football tournament

Coach Raymond Woodie Jr.'s third annual tournament and accompanying camps gave players a chance to be evaluated by college coaches.

  • By Michele Meyers
  • | 2:13 p.m. July 2, 2026
  • Ormond Beach Observer
  • Sports
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This is the third year Bethune-Cookman University’s head football coach, Raymond Woodie Jr., has hosted the King of the Beach 7-on-7 high school football tournament.

On June 26, Woodie greeted 39 teams in the Moore Gymnasium on the B-CU campus before pool play started. The teams were divided into seven pools and battled on seven different fields. The top 20 teams competed in the single-elimination playoff rounds in the afternoon.

Mainland, Flagler Palm Coast, Spruce Creek and Father Lopez all participated. 

Jacksonville University Christian took the King of the Beach crown after finishing runner-up to Mainland last year.

The event also included a youth and kicking camp with 4th Down University founder Dan Lundy, a big man camp, a high school prospect camp, a transfer-JUCO camp and a women’s clinic.

Camps are an opportunity for Woodie and his staff to evaluate talent.

“We signed 20 guys in the last three years from this 7-on-7 camp, along with our other camps,” Woodie said. “We are big on signing high school players … if you do something [on the field], you’re going to get something; if you don’t do anything, you won’t get anything.” 

This year, Mainland wasn't in the playoffs. The Bucs finished pool play with a 3-1 record with wins against Winter Springs, Oak Ridge and Miami Lakes and a 30-13 loss against Gainesville Eastside.


It has grown into one of the biggest high school 7v7 tournaments in the South. [Raymond Woodie’s] coaching staff does a great job of keeping the camp flowing while also evaluating talent throughout the day.
— JERRIME "SQUATTY" BELL, Mainland head coach

Mainland head coach Jerrime “Squatty” Bell said he loves the camp Woodie provides for the area.

“[King of the Beach] has grown into one of the biggest high school 7v7 tournaments in the South,” Bell said. “[Raymond Woodie’s] coaching staff does a great job of keeping the camp flowing while also evaluating talent throughout the day.”

Mainland had competed in two other 7-on-7 tournaments this summer. The Bucs lost in the quarterfinals at the University of Central Florida tournament on June 8, then went to the University of South Florida for the Sling N’ Shoot 7v7 Tournament on June 16 where they made it to the semifinals. They opted out of finishing after two of their players were affected by pepper spray used in an incident that happened in proximity to the Bucs.

Flagler Palm Coast head coach Patrick Turner said 7-on-7 tournaments offer a platform to practice against a variety of teams.

“It’s a time for better understanding of defensive and offensive passing,” he said. “Our coverage gets tightened up on defense, communication, offense, the timing, the understanding of route concepts and things like that. It’s just practice, and it’s real life.”

The Bulldogs faced Cocoa, Tocoi Creek, Palmetto, and Jacksonville University Christian. They finished 3-1 after losing to University Christian by one touchdown in the last 14 seconds of the game. They were seeded ninth going into the playoffs and beat Ocoee 18-12 but then chose to leave following a lightning delay.

“It was a great battle, great competition,” Turner said. “So, extremely proud of our team and the way they played. It was good. It’s been a good day.” 

FPC defensive backs Lucas Siharaj and Yamon Jordan are going into their fourth year playing football with the Bulldogs. They agreed that even though they lost, their favorite game in the tournament was against University Christian. 

“Our biggest challenge was University Christian,” Jordan said. “They have a good team, very disciplined.”

They said 7-on-7 helps develop skills and forces them to play faster.

“I think it definitely improves your skill without the pads, makes you more mobile,” Siharaj said. “It makes you think about more things and what people are going to do, because there are the best guys out here, the best of the best. So it’s just great competition. You’re always learning and making plays.”

Jordan said 7-on-7 increased his off-ball decision-making.

“It helps us play faster without a D-line,” he said. “We don’t have our help up front that we usually have during the season, so our back end really has to hone in on their skills and really have to lock in.”

This was the first year Father Lopez coach Mark Gabbard signed his team up for the King of the Beach tournament. He was joined by assistant coach Raymond Woodie III, Woodie's son. The Green Wave played Deltona, SFA of Dover, Florida, Miami Southridge, and Sarasota Booker. They went 0-4 for the day, but Gabbard said his players were competitive, losing by one touchdown in three games and by one point against Booker on the last play. 

“Every one of those teams went to the playoffs,” he said. “But here’s what I loved about it. Miami Southridge is way more athletic than we are overall, and we lost to them by 7. We moved the football. We scored once, we had the opportunity to score three other times and didn’t do it, but we’re competing, and we made some fantastic plays.”

Gabbard said he told his players that the other teams are good, but the Green Wave are starting to prove to themselves that they can be too.

“I chose Father Lopez because I felt it was a program that could be developed,” he said. “It’s the only significant private school with athletic programs for miles, and the education is superior. I feel it’s a program that's been lying in want for a long time, and I don’t understand why it hasn’t been built and why it can’t be built, and so I’m going to try to do it.”

 

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