In the last three seasons, the Cordova High School football teams have lived by the pass, with keeping the ball on the ground at times.

Although the names have changed, the theme of an air attack continues for the Lancers, who competed at the Rosemont 7-on-7 Tournament last month. The passing tourney featured eight area high school football teams putting their quarterbacks, running backs, tight ends and wide receivers on offense against opposing team’s defensive players at outside and inside linebackers, defensive backs and safeties.

Competing at the tourney with Cordova were McClatchy, Davis, Valley, Laguna Creek, Monterey Trail, Natomas and host Rosemont. In pool play of the one-day tourney, the Lancers played Valley and Laguna Creek, going 2-0 in pool play.

“They were pumped up,” said Cordova head coach Darren Nill of his players.

Cordova beat Monterey Trail in the semifinal game of the tourney.

“We had a great game,” said Nill of his squad playing the Mustangs in the title game. “It really was competitive.

Advancing to the title game, Cordova faced Davis, which plays in the Delta League. The Lancers won the game for the passing tourney title.

The Lancers was faced with defending and running against the Blue Devils’ tight end/defensive end Tucker Fisk. Standing at 6-foot-4 and 255 pounds, Fisk has committed to Stanford after he graduates from Davis next spring. His father, Jason, also played football at The Farm in the early 1990s and later played in the National Football League (NFL).

“He’s a monster,” said Nill of the younger Fisk. “He was a handful for my guys.”

One of the pluses Nill liked about this tourney was he and his assistant coaches had recognized was speed.

“We’re going to be a fast team,” Nill said. “Last year, we had several good receivers but our depth wasn’t that great. This year, we have nine receivers that can run in and out of the game. We have a lot of depth at receiver.”

For the last three seasons, Unique Perez was the Lancers’ quarterback who passed for 3,085 yards and 35 touchdowns. Now that Perez has graduated from Cordova and is planning to attend and continue to play football at American River College this fall, the battle for the Lancers’ new signal caller has begun with in senior Justin Martin and sophomore Xavier Johnson, who started on the Cordova JV squad as a freshman last fall that posted an 8-2 record. Johnson took all of the snaps at the 7-on-7 passing tourney.

“We have pretty good competition at quarterback,” said Nill of the duo.