The Charles Henderson varsity football team will be hosting their annual Wiregrass 7-on-7 tournament on Thursday.

It will be a loaded field this season. Charles Henderson, along with Pike Liberal Arts will be the two local teams in the field. They will be joined by 18 other teams in a tournament that will span the length of the day.

“This thing has grown,” said Charles Henderson head coach Brad McCoy. “We are expecting the biggest lineup that we have had yet to go along with the Spring Classic we had. We have 20 schools coming. We are excited; we have guys coming from Mobile, Prattville, Montgomery and surrounding counties of Birmingham.”

Joining Charles Henderson and Pike Liberal Arts will be teams such as Baldwin County, Prattville, Phenix City, Kinston, Greenville, Enterprise, Dale County, Wetumpka, Elba Northview, Holtville, Rehobeth and Samson.

“It’s going to be tough,” said Pike Liberal Arts coach Gene Allen. “It’s going to be hot and there are really good teams. I don’t know who we are playing, but there will be a difference in the competition level I’m sure.”

The tournament will be broken down to two different segments. There will be pool play beginning at 9 a.m. Each team is guaranteed to play in five games. Following pool play, each team will be seeded for tournament-style play.

At the end of the tournament, the winner will receive a championship plaque and three GST game footballs. Each participant will get a Dri-fit shirt and there will also be a lunch.

The Patriots have four different quarterbacks they are trying to work with in advance of the start of the season. This tournament allows them to work with their receivers and read defensive coverages.

“Right now we are working four quarterbacks. We don’t know who it’s going to be,” Allen said. “None of them played a lot last year because Reed got a lot of snaps last year. Most of these guys are doing it for the first time in a while. It’s good from a standpoint that they can get the reads. Most of them were receivers, so they have a general idea of what’s going on. The more repetitions you can get, the better it’s going to be.”

In addition to playing games, all the participants will be able to listen to a devotion from the Fellowship of Christian Athletes.