The day didn’t begin as planned for the Warriors (Naperville, IL). In their first match of the day, they ran into a wall of red, white, and blue as the Freeborn Eagles (Albert Lea, MN) edged a 28-26 win.
To their credit, Naperville re-focused and won their next two pool matches to earn the third seed going into playoffs. In their semi-final, they met the River Rats (Elgin, IL) and notched a solid 24-14 win.
In the other semi-final, 4th-seeded Eagan upset the Freeborn Eagles by the closest of margins: a 15-14 win!
But Naperville — who’s quality continued to improve throughout the day — would prove too strong for Eagan. Running in 5 tries, Naperville won the match 35-17 and took home the championship. (more…)
The 6-team High School Boys Elite bracket was chosen from the select- and international-sides that registered for the Lakefront 7s this year. It include international sides like Consett RFC (UK) and Canadian players playing with Mystic River — playing under Mystical Canucks — who won the bracket in 2016.
However, the Mystical Canucks did not have an easy path to the championship. Having lost a pool match to the Iowa Hawks, they entered the playoff bracket as 4th-seed to meet undefeated Badger Selects 1 (Wisconsin select-side).
But the semi-final is where the visitors found their groove, defeating the local outfit 24-10 and setting up a repeat of the pool-stage match versus the Hawks.
As in the earlier match only 1 try separated the teams at the final whistle. But this time, Mystical Canucks had the extra score to take the championship. (more…)
