PEARCY — The Bismarck Lions made the roar sound loud and well effective in their return to football workouts this week in preparation for the 2025 fall season. The Lions have got rolling again in their 7-on-7 play and Thursday competed well in the Live Like Bryce Tournament hosted by Lake Hamilton in at Wolf Stadium in Pearcy.

The Lions have been productive the last two years competing in the shootout tournament in Lake Hamilton. As a final four semi-finalist the previous two years in the tournament, the Lions sadly had an early exit in the opening during tournament play. The Lions competed well during pool play competition and took down Carlisle, Star City and Jacksonville which earned them the number two seed. But once tournament mode began, the Lions fell short to Class 5A Magnolia—that unfortunately ended their outing at Lake Hamilton. Bismarck football head coach Daniel Keithley felt the Lions competed well, but the outing wasn’t what they had hoped to finish in Lake Hamilton this go around in 2025.

Keithley noted the Lions finish was not like they hoped. “In pool play we handle all our opponents pretty easily against Carlisle, Star City, and Jacksonville to finish with the two seat right behind Sheridan, who was also undefeated, but then our very first game against Magnolia, who is the 18th seed we were tipping balls up to him for interceptions and they beat us by two to send us home early,” Keithley said.

Host team Lake Hamilton defeated Sheridan in the championship as the Wolves secured the Live Like Bryce title for 2025.

The Lions are back to their summer offseason campaign pretty heavy and have started competing in their Southwest Arkansas 7-on-7 league competition. The 7-on-7 league play will be hosted at different locations down in the south part of the state where the final day of competition is scheduled to be hosted at Hammons Stadium in Hope.

The Lions secured the shootout title last year and look to come out strong again with their roar of success in 7-on-7 play for 2025. Bismarck also will compete in team camp action in Prescott that is a part of their summer offseason campaign for another long ride and journey as football 3A state playoff contenders in 2025.

 Read story details in Saturday’s July 12 MDR newspaper edition.