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Battle on the Mountain attracts 16 teams

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Ramona High School’s football program hosts an annual Battle on the Mountain tournament for junior varsity and freshman teams that this summer attracted 16 teams.

“Tournament was a success,” said head football coach Damon Baldwin.

The 16-team total is an increase from 10 in 2015 and six when the Battle on the Mountain began in 2014. This year’s tournament consisted of 10 junior varsity teams that played on Ramona High School fields and six freshman teams that utilized Olive Peirce Middle School fields.

“There was a big demand for the lower levels,” Baldwin said. “We’re probably going to double it next year.”

Teams came from three counties: Chaparral High School in Temecula, Imperial High School in Imperial County, and North County, East County and South Bay teams in San Diego County.

“We’ve got teams from all over,” Baldwin said. “It’s growing and becoming a big deal.”

Imperial High School won the freshman portion of the tournament. San Marcos was the junior varsity champion.

Ramona had teams at both levels.

Even though they didn’t win the championship, the Ramona teams played well, Baldwin said.

Preparing the younger players for the California Interscholastic Federation (CIF) season rather than winning the tournament was the emphasis, he said.

“It’s just all about learning our system and getting reps,” he said. “Winning’s great, but it’s not the objective.”

Ramona’s freshman and JV football teams open their seasons Aug. 27 at home against St. Augustine.

The Bulldog varsity has an Aug. 26 game against St. Augustine at Mesa College. Training camp for Ramona’s football players begins Aug. 3.

“It’s quite a big jump from Pop Warner,” Baldwin said of high school football.

The Battle on the Mountain tournament utilizes seven-on-seven games on a 50-yard field. The games are in a one-hand touch format and are 35 minutes long.

The tournament consists of pool play followed by bracket competition, so each team has five or six games depending on how well they fare in bracket play.

CIF officials enforce the game rules for the tournament while Ramona’s varsity players control the clocks on each field.

Ramona wide receivers coach Mike Ernst handled the operations the day of the game to allow Baldwin to review the players.

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