Chicago North Shore only gave up 2 tries on their way to victory at the 2018 Lakefront 7s and until the championship had dominated all their opponents.
In the championship match North Shore met the Kansas City Jazz in a low-scoring affair. With two tries to one, North Shore sealed the victory to take home their first trophy since 2012 when they placed first in the Elite/Qualifier bracket.
The trophy is the third Lakefront 7s championship for the Chicago-based team: they also won the Elite/Qualifier bracket in 2010. (more…)
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 Wisconsin Women’s RFC (Madison, WI) are the 2018 Champions in the Women’s Open “A” bracket.
A 3-0 record in pool play gave them the second seed in the playoff bracket. This paired them against local rivals Scylla. WWRFC took the match 19-10 but only 1 try separated the semi-finalists.
In the other semi-final the St. Louis Sabres (4th seed) met the Chicago Women for a pool-match repeat. This match was even closer than the first semi-final: each team scored two tries. But the Sabres — who has lost to Chicago in the earlier contest — advanced to the final on the back of two successful conversion kicks.
This set up an epic final that was another nail-biter. A single unconverted try gave WWRFC the edge in the match and ultimately 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…)
The Hawkettes — Iowa’s select-side program — captured the High School Girls Championship on Saturday.
Giving up only 2 tries, the Hawkettes cruised through pool play with a 3-0 record and a point differential of 98.
In the championship match they met Waukesha, an informal team made up of players who attend Catholic Memorial High. The Hawkettes scored first to go up 7-0, but Waukesha responded to tie it up 7-all. The Hawks the took the lead 14-7 when the referee awarded a penalty-try for a high-tackle.
Waukesha responded again with a converted try of their own and tied the match going into halftime.
The second half of the match was a defensive battle with neither team conceding points until the the last play of the match. The Iowa team broke through the defense to take the match with an unconverted try: final score 19-15 Hawkettes.
The win marks the third consecutive title for the Hawkettes. (more…)
