Chilton County High School hosted a 7-on7 camp on Monday that included a round robin competition of five schools and six teams. (Photos by Anthony Richards)

Football is back in Chilton County at least for this past week, as various teams competed in 7-on-7 camps within the county limits.

Chilton County High School hosted an event on Monday that included Verbena and Billingsley along with Marbury and Calera.

“It’s a good venue to get the kids out here as much as possible,” Chilton County head coach Brian Bradford said. “If they’re not here, they’re probably at home laying on the couch and watching TV.”

According to Bradford, they try to get as many as the county schools together as they can when putting on an event such as a 7-on-7 camp.

“It’s about learning what coverage to get in and being in the proper position on each play,” Verbena head coach Mike Harris said. “You do play a little bit of different defensive look in this compared to what you would the rest of the year.”

The next day, it was Maplesville High School’s turn to host a camp that included Jemison, Isabella, Calera, Lafayette and Montevallo.

Competition was on full display during Maplesville High School’s 7-on-7 camp on Tuesday.

“You finally get to play someone in a different colored jersey,” Jemison head coach Van Clements said. “I look for them to come out and compete. The main thing is to get better with each rep.”

A common theme among the coaches at both events was that they wanted their players to leave the camps with a better understanding of the game than they had before the day started.

“This allows to see some young guys that we are going to try to depend on this year to make plays,” Maplesville head coach Brent Hubbert said. “What we’re looking at changes from year to year. You take your weak spots and really work on those parts of the game.”

In certain cases, a 7-on-7 atmosphere the team you are playing against means less than the fact that you are on the field playing.

“It’s hard to even care who your opponent is, because most of these things you are working on yourself,” Hubbert said. “July 12 doesn’t have a whole lot of bearing.”

Each school that attended the Maplesville camp donated $100 to the American Cancer Society.

Several of the teams have another camp scheduled within the next couple weeks including Isabella, which will host an event of their own on July 25 at 5:30 p.m.

For the last handful of years Maplesville has made a trip to Dalton, Ga. to compete against teams from throughout the southeast. This year’s tournament will be held Friday and Saturday.

“We’ll be the smallest school there by a long ways, but it gives us good competition,” Hubbert said.