The Wylie East Raiders qualified for the state 7-on-7 tournament.

With only two state tournament spots up for grabs, tension was high at Lindsey Park for the Tyler 7-on-7 state qualifying tournament on Saturday.

In the end, Wylie East and Nacogdoches grabbed the two state berths. Nacogdoches won the flip after the semifinal games to claim the top seed.

“It feels great,” Nacogdoches receiver D’Marea Weaver said. “Me and my teammates did our job today, that’s really it.”

Longview and Wylie East were squaring off on one field, and Nacogdoches was taking on North Forney on the other field in the state-qualifying contests.

Wylie East went up 7-0 early on Longview before Jordan Allen connected with Jartaivan Wright for a touchdown to cut the score to 7-6.

Wylie East got another touchdown as time expired in the first half to lead 14-6.

Five-star receiver Jalen Hale — the No. 2-ranked receiver in the country in the class of 2023 — made a jumping grab over two defenders to set Longview up in front of the end zone. Dakaylen Reese followed with a touchdown catch to cut the score to 14-12.

Wylie East added another touchdown before Jaquarius Cooper scored again in the final minutes. The Lobos got the two-point conversion to cut the score to 21-20, but time eventually ran out while the Raiders had possession of the ball.

“I just told them the most important thing was their energy on the sideline and the effort they gave out there. I could care less what the score is,” said Wylie East head football coach Marcus Gold, who was previously at Whitehouse. “But at the end of the day, you’re definitely happy to win it. Right now, these guys are sitting at 10-0 in the summer, so every little bit of confidence is huge for our group right now.”

As Wylie East celebrated its win, the Nacogdoches and North Forney game finished regulation with a tie. North Forney got the ball first, and the Dragons got the defensive stop.

Nacogdoches appeared to score the game-winning touchdown, but a four-second violation was called. On fourth down, Gus Smith completed a pass to Braylon Ratcliff, who reached into the end zone for the 19-13 win.

“He threw it and it seemed like time slowed down. It was just crazy,” Ratcliff said. “I caught it and looked to the ref. He gave me the hands up, so I knew we had it. It was just a great feeling to see my team happy to see how far we came from last week.”

Per Nacogdoches coaches, it is the first time for the Dragons to earn a trip to the 7-on-7 state tournament, which will be June 25-26 in College Station.

“It feels great,” Smith said. “We came back from a lot of adversity. We were down in two games and came back and finished it off.”

In Pool A, Tyler Legacy opened the day with a 26-13 win over College Station. The Red Raiders opened the scoring with a touchdown pass from Luke Wolf to Eli Howard. LaDavion Butler caught three touchdown passes in the game — two from Bruce Bruckner and one from Wolf.

Legacy then defeated North Garland (19-14) before falling to North Forney (6-0). Other Pool A scores were North Forney 26, North Garland 25; College Station 21, North Forney 13; and College Station 34, North Garland 33.

Pool B scores were Greenville 21, Tyler Legacy B 6; Nacogdoches 6, Marshall 0; Nacogdoches 19, Tyler Legacy B 6; Marshall 19, Greenville 13; Marshall 30, Tyler Legacy B 12; and Nacogdoches 28, Greenville 20.

In Pool C, Longview opened with a 27-6 win over Burleson, and Whitehouse took a 46-6 victory over Tyler B to set up a showdown between the Lobos and Wildcats.

The Lobos took a quick 6-0 lead with a touchdown catch by Wright. The Wildcats came right back to tie the score with a touchdown pass from Joey Conflitti to Decarlton Wilson.

Wilson scored again, and Jermod McCoy caught the extra point pass to give Whitehouse a 13-6 lead.

Cooper had a tying touchdown grab just before halftime for the Lobos. Landon Elliott put Whitehouse in front 20-13 in the second half.

DeKalon Taylor caught a touchdown pass for Longview to cut the score to 20-19 before Hale gave the Lobos a late 25-20 lead. Chase Smith returned an interception for a touchdown on the last play of the game to give Longview a 31-20 win.

Other Pool C scores were Burleson 25, Tyler B 0; Longview 28, Tyler B 12; and Burleson 21, Whitehouse 20.

Pool D scores were Wylie East 24, Tyler 19; Sulphur Springs 18, Corsicana 6; Wylie East 18, Sulphur Springs 6; Tyler 40, Corsicana 7; Wylie East 26, Corsicana 13; and Tyler 39, Sulphur Springs 18.

Jadavion Lacy had multiple touchdown catches from Eli Holt for Tyler in the win over Sulphur Springs.

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