General | July 27, 2017 | 19:34

A.J. Pipkins of Lansing is one of the smaller players participating in the AAU Junior Olympic 7-on-7 football tournament.

However, he made one of the biggest plays Thursday, as Legacy Football of Brighton upset the Chicago Boom during bracket play in the 7th and 8th grade age group. The game took place at the Legacy Center in Brighton.

Pipkins made a game-saving interception with 1:11 remaining in the game to send his squad, which went 4-0 Thursday, into tomorrow's elimination bracket as a No. 2 seed behind AWP of Fort Wayne, Ind. Game one tomorrow for Legacy Football is at 11 a.m.

Everybody knows not to throw Pipkins' way, but the Boom were down to its last chance and passed his way out of desperation.

Legacy Football took a huge step in joining the Boom and AWP as the elite 7-on-7 teams of the Midwest. Legacy rolled through its competitors by scores of 28-0, 28-0 and 35-0 before its showdown with the Boom.

This tournament isn't just about a group of hard-working boys from Detroit, Flint, Grand Rapids and Brighton enjoying football. This is part of a master plan to get Michigan athletes on par with those from warmer climates and in SEC country.

The early results of the plan look good, too.

High school-aged 7-on-7 teams from Michigan placed 26 kids in college the last two years, while the Chicago Boom place 10-15 players in college annually.

Some of Legacy Football's eighth graders are already being recruited by colleges. Players like Christian Rapley and Leroy Watson should start to be recruited soon themselves because of their dominant play Thursday.

They were touchdown-making machines, and Watson made a nice one-handed grab to put Legacy ahead for good against the Boom. Both also were dominant at safety.

"Legacy is getting into that (elite) group," Baron Flenory, owner of Pylon, an event company that puts on 7-on-7 tournaments, said. "Michigan has been one of the slower states to grow."

Michigan has been catching up lately thanks to people like Legacy Football national director of football operations Justin Cessante, who also serves as the defensive coordinator at Novi Detroit Catholic Central High School.

Cessante has received a helping hand from former NFL players Joique Bell (played at Wayne State), LaMarr Woodley (played at the University of Michigan) and Greg Jones (played at Michigan State).

Flenory and Pylon began this 7-on-7 craze, which is sweeping the nation and finds a place in the AAU Junior Olympics for a second straight year. He didn't like the way players were being evaluated by colleges, so he began 7-on-7.

He was one of the top cornerbacks in Pennsylvania, but turned in a slow 40-yard dash time. It caused a number of Division I schools to pull their scholarship offers from him.

He ended up playing at the University of New Hampshire in the Colonial Athletic Association of the NCAA's Football Championship Subdivision, where he was a second-team All-American and received tryouts with NFL teams.

"I think kids should be evaluated on the field," he said. "They are taught how to run '40' times. When you are running 40s, you are putting your scholarship at risk. Here, you are evaluated, and coaches can see your skillset. Does the cornerback know the difference between playing zone and man-to-man?"

Watson and Rapley said they can't wait to showcase their skills in high school in a couple of years and later in college.

This is more than an event. These players are using the AAU Junior Olympics to prepare for playing on the big stage one day, in front of thousands of fans on a college campus near you.