Another Night of Intrasquad Sevens Comes to a Close

Last Friday was the penultimate night of UMRFC’s regular season instrasquad sevens tournament and it has set the stage for some very meaningful games next week. As always plenty of skills and talent were on display and if you’d like to see the games for yourself, just check out our YouTube channel where the games are already posted.

Game 1: James J. Duderstadt 12 – Bennie Oosterbaan 38

The first game saw Bennie start to separate from the pack and put themselves behind Ross in the standings. Grady Bridges started off the scoring after receiving an offload from Mark Borowski and ran 60 yards for the try down the wing. He successfully converted his own try. Bridges soon followed this up by bouncing back off a ruck and slipping through the Dudes defensive line to score. The next Bennie score came off of a Mark Borowski run as the ball was bumped down the line to him on the wing where he cut across his tackler and ran the short distance for the try. Bridges converted the try to make it 21-0 Bennie. The final score of the first half came as Chris Hopfner received a pop pass out of a ruck from Borowski and took the ball all the way down the wing to score. The conversion was no good however. Bennie continued to lay on the pressure in the second half as Hopfner took a Dude turnover back the other way for a try. The Dudes put themselves on the scoreboard however when Cooper Smart handed the ball off to Spencer Scolnick who made a hard run through several tacklers to take the ball in for the try. Bennie responded in turn as Bridges offloaded to David Hiltzik who took a hard line through the Dudes defensive line and sprinted down the field for the long try. The conversion was no good making the score 38-5 Bennie. Evan Noon showed that the Dudes weren’t going to give up however and received the kickoff and ran all the way down the wing, cutting into the middle of the field where he was tackled, however he got up again and fell the short distance for the score. He successfully converted his try to make the final score 38-12 Bennie.

Game 2: James Earl Jones 7 – Don Canham 48

The second game of the night saw Jones short on players so several eager players from other teams stepped up to help out. One such player, Sequoyah Burke-Combes, quickly had an impact, running across the field and down the wing, outrunning everyone to score the try. The conversion was good. However this was the last time Jones would see the scoreboard with Canham dominating from here on out. Ian Etheart started off the scoring as Jones was awarded a scrum near their own try zone. The ball popped out to Etheart and he took it the short distance to score. Drew Vecchio followed this up with a hard run through several defenders to score. C.J. Stock converted the try to make it 12-5 Canham. The next score came off a Canham lineout in which Vecchio received the ball and passed it off to Nick Lazurka who broke through the Jones line for the score with a successful conversion. Scott Miller followed this up by weaving his way through the defense for the score. Brandon Gardner converted the try. Next Jordan Ulmer took a Canham lineout and ran right through the defense, shedding tacklers for the try. Miller scored his second try off of a loose ball which he picked up and took in for the score. Vecchio also picked up a second try as he made a dummy pass only to keep the ball himself and score. The final score of the game came from Terence Taylor who received an offload from Lazurka to score right before the game ended, making the final score 48-7 Canham.

Game 3: Mary Sue Coleman 5 – Steven M. Ross 35

The third game of the night saw Ross continue their undefeated season. Cole Van Harn started the scoring taking an offload from Chris Padmos and cutting back across on a hard line through the Coleman defensive line. He finally also converted his own try with assistance from the posts after many attempts throughout the season. Joel Conzelmann followed this up with a phenomenal kick down the sideline that just barely stayed in bounds. He ran down his own kick and took it in for the score and conversion of his own try. Jared Bosma continued the scoring with a dummy pass followed by a hard cut inside to get through the defensive line. His conversion was good to make the score 21-0 Ross. Conzelmann got his second try on a long run as he broke through the Coleman defensive line and ran freely to the try zone. Ross’ final score came from an offload from Bosma to Michael LaCivita who charged through the line for a try. Coleman managed to get on the board however with a long run full of cutbacks by Robbie Greenfield. He could not convert his try however and the final score was 35-5 Ross.

Game 4: Bennie Oosterbaan 31 – Don Canham 7

The fourth game had significance towards the standings as Canham could have secured their place in the playoffs with a win, however they couldn’t come up with the victory this game. Chris Hopfner started off the scoring with one of his signature runs, making hard cuts and shedding tacklers for the quick score. Bridges conversion was good. Hopfner led to the second score as well as he made a hard run all the way down the field sucking in the Canham defense leading to him being able to pop the ball up to a wide open Jeff Smith who ran around the edge to score the easy try. The conversion was no good however. Bridges followed this up by slipping through the Canham defensive line and then turning on the jets to break away for the score at the end of the first half. Canham was the first to strike in the second however as Jordan Ulmer picked the ball up out of a ruck and ran a scrummie sneak, catching Bennie unaware for the try. CJ Stock converted the try. David Hiltzik scored the next Bennie try however, taking the offload from Stuart Starkweather and running through an open hole in the tired Canham defense for an 80 yard try with a successful conversion. Starkweather went on to put the final nail in the coffin as he refused to be tackled, running through several defenders and scoring the try to make the final score 31-7 Bennie.

Game 5: Steven M. Ross 38 – James Earl Jones  5

Ross continued to dominate, winning their 8^th game of the season in the fifth game of the night. The first score came from Cole Van Harn as he took an offload from Michael LaCivita and ran down the wing to score untouched. He quickly returned back to old form, missing the conversion terribly. Chris Padmos had the second score for Ross taking a pop pass from Chening Duker and cutting across to weave through the Jones defense for the try. Padmos converted his own try. Van Harn picked up his second try of the night in similar fashion to his first, taking an offload from LaCivita and cutting into the middle of the field for the try. Van Harn managed to convert the try. Van Harn made it a hat trick, taking the offload from Jared Bosma on the wing once again and cut inside to score. He missed the conversion terribly once again to make the score 24-0 Ross. Bosma got his second assist of the game offloading the ball the LaCivita who ran untouched for the try as well. Duker converted. Ross’ final score came off of a great run by Duker, cutting through Jones’ defensive line for the try and converted his own try to make it 38-0 Ross. Jones managed to get on the board however on their last possession as Grady Bridges got the ball on the outside and danced his way into the try zone to make the final score 38-5 Ross.

Game 6: Mary Sue Coleman 24 – James J. Duderstadt 26

The sixth game was a nailbiter, in what looked like it might be the Sues’ first win. The Dudes scored first and fast off of a run up the middle by John Palladino who evaded two tacklers and took it the short distance for the try. The conversion was good. The Dudes continued to add to their lead as Max Arevuo took the ball out of a scrum 20 yards out of the Sue try zone and ran the distance for the try. He converted his try to make it 14-0 Dudes. It looked like the Dudes were on their way to an easy win as they scored their third try of the night as Evan Noon kicked the ball all the way down the field and chased it down to score. He could not convert however, making the score 19-0. The Sues weren’t without a response however and on the last possession of the half, Nick Fehrman received the offload from Jackson Wagner and ran down the wing breaking several tackles on his 70 yard try to put the Sues on the board. Robbie Greenfield followed this up as Neal Slabbekoorn picked off a Dude pass and ran down the field offloading the ball to Greenfield who scored easily and converted the try. 19-12 Dudes. The Dudes lengthened their lead with  another kick by Noon which he chased down and took in for the try, successfully converting, making it 26-12 Dudes. Greenfield scored his second try of the game after taking an offload from Burke-Combs and outrunning the Dudes down the sideline, successfully converting his own try to bring the Sues within 7. As the clock ran down on the last possession of the game, Greenfield made a huge run, taking the ball 70 yards and then offloading it to Burke-Combs just 10 yards away from the try zone. Unfortunately for the Sues, Greenfield could not make the conversion and the Dudes were victorious with a score of 26-24.

Standings: