Week 3 of Intersquad 7s brings upsets and improvements

The wolverine ruggers were back at it again on Friday, January 20 with more 7s action. This week brought a victory against a team that hasn’t known a loss for more than 2 years along with some movement in the overall standings. If you missed out last week, you should try to make it out to Oosterbaan Field House Friday at 8:30 for the next round of excitement!

Canham 17 vs Mary Sue 20

Jeremy Reid carries the ball into a tackle where Luke Mallery knocks it out. Juan Aguirre picks it up and runs it 30 yards across the field before some beautiful passing to Sequoyah Combes, then to Tohy, who scores in left corner. No conversion, Mary Sues take the lead (0-5). After some sideline to sideline phases, Canham knocks on, scrum to Sue Krew. Tohy get the ball from the scrum and breaks Canhams line for a try. No conversion, Sue Krew up (0-10). Canham responds with a big break by Jordan (Violent J) Ulmer, who offloads to Foo and gets the ball back again a few steps later to eat up some more delicious meters. The ball goes to Jeremy Reid who gets held up, but Canham wins the scrum back and after a few phases of play get the ball to Violent J on the wing, who uses his superior prop strength to stiff arm Juan Aguirre on the wing and get a try in the corner. No conversion, Canham coming back (5-10). At the sound of the horn signaling the end of the first half, Canham desperately tries to punch in another try to settle the score for the first half. They get very close, just 5 meters out and pushing, but Alex Carson poaches the ball from Foo who goes in with no support. Off the poach, Carson demonstrates his prop speed with a 95 meter run to end the first half with a bang, getting cheered on by the crowd all the way. Nobody decides to kick the conversion because the Sues don’t think they need it I guess, Sues up in the first half (5-15).

First kickoff of the second half goes out of bounds, and the Sue Krew start with a quick tap and go, they move the ball nicely but turn it over once they get close to the try zone. New Canham player Michael (something) pulls up with a hamstring injury mid run, and Nick (Bronx) Fehrman makes a quick tackle and poach, running for the try line before making a falling offload while getting tackled to Juan, who carries it the last 5 meters to score the try. No conversion, Mary Sue leads (5-20). Jeremy Reid makes a nice break off of a scrum for Canham and it looks as though he might score, by Sequoyah Combes says nah son, and catches up to him on an angle, tackling him and forcing a knock on. 
Canham wins the scrum back though and moves the ball left to right until it makes it way back to Reid, who makes another break. Tohy cuts him off 10 meters from the try zone, but Reid lives up to his Dozer nickname and feeding from his anger of not finishing on his last run, lowers his shoulder to put Tohy on his back without missing a stride himself. Dozer touches the ball down in the corner and Canham scores. No conversion, Canham trailing (10-20). Canham kicks and gets it back, looking like they have enough momentum to score another quick try but the ball gets knocked on. Canham and Sue Krew exchange penalties in the Mary Sue end of the field until the horn blares signaling the last play of the game. Just then Disco Drew Vecchio makes a break and shrugs off Sequoyah to score one last try in the middle. Conversion is good, but Canham falls to Mary Sue (17-20).

Jones 36 vs. Oosterbaan 7

Big Chris Byer scored early for Jones after they won back a scrum from a knock on on Oosterbaan’s 10 meter line. Chris picked up the ball and used his superior mass to shed a tackle and touch the ball down. Conversion goes wide, Jones is winning (5-0). Kasten slipped through 4 minutes into the first half after getting the ball from a lineout and using his speed to exploit a gap in Oosterbaan’s line, Conversion by Retro Burns is no good, Jones still up (10-0). Oosterbaan gets a beautiful break for a try after being trapped in their own end for too many phases. Tomer Chen, eager to get the ball out of the danger zone, grubbers a ball through Jones’ defense with an excellent chase to maintain possession and gets the ball to Brian Chu, who runs toward the sideline and offloads to Ryan (Golden Eagle) McDonough. Golden Eagle gets wrapped up by Apelete (AP) Houngbo, but cannot bring the majestic bird to the ground. Ron Marine runs up in support and gets an astounding offload from McDonough, running 50 meters to the try zone. The sideline goes absolutely bonkers. Conversion by Marine is good, Jones winning (10-7). However, at the last second of the half Jones scores to widen the gap after a Big Chris Byer gets a huge break (get it?) off the kickoff, shedding tackles all the way and Retro Burns finishes. Conversion is good, Jones is up at the half (17-7).

Jones scores again the beginning of the first half after Kasten wrapped up opposing scrumhalf Jeremy Parks off a scrum. The ball comes out of Parks’ hands and Kasten scoops burns down the sideline for 70 meter try, Oosterbaan never had a chance to catch him. Jones starts the first half with a bang and the conversion is good, (24-7). No mercy from Jones when the march down the field again only a minute later and Oosterbaan gets a penalty for not releasing, Retro Burns does a quick tap and go just 10 meters from the tryline and slips through with ease. Conversion is good, Jones up (31-7). With 30 seconds reamining, Retro Burns scores again, slicing up Oosterbaan’s defense cutting from left to right until he is brought down in the try zone. Conversion kick goes wide, Jones takes the win (36-7).

Duderstadt 19 vs. Ross 7

This was a hard fought game between the top two teams in the standings, but effort, teamwork, and disciplined defense allowed the dudes to get a win against Ross, who has been undefeated for over two years.

The first half was scoreless until the last minute. Both sides battled hard and Ross had a few opportunities for big breaks which could have been tries, but killed themselves on penalties. The situation was very similar for The Dudes, getting close to the Ross try line but losing possession from knockons and forward passes. With one minute remaining, it looked as though Chening Duker was going to make a break around the edge for a try, but Andre Cargill was just able to tackle him, throwing him out of bounds and sending him sprawling across the legs of a couple female fans whose bench was just a little too close to the sideline. Fortunately nobody was injured and the bench was moved back immediately afterwards. Off of the lineout, the horn sounded signaling the final play of the half and Duderstadt moved the ball wide to Cooper Smart. Smart got double tackled by Meng Shi and Matt Ko, but Ko was injured on the tackle when he went head to head with Shi, and was down for the last play of the first half. Capitalizing on the lack of one defender, the ball was moved across the field to Nate Fisher, who ran 30 meters to the try zone between the posts. Conversion by Cargill is good, Dudes lead (7-0).

Dudes looked to score early in the first half and nearly did. John Palladino made an early break and switched to Andre Cargill. Ross gets a not releasing penalty and Cargill does a quick tap and go, drawing defenders to the outside and offloading to Cooper Smart who had an easy opportunity to score, but sadly it looked as though he left his hands at home that day and dropped the easy pass just 15 meters from scoring. The Dudes managed to keep Ross in their own end for a few phases, but Chening Duker made a break to the outside and made a switch pass to Cole Van Harn, who made it to the 50 meter line. Duker picked up the ball off the ruck and slipped through the fatigued Dudes defense with ease, briskly jogging into the try zone with a gait that screamed “I don’t have a care in the world.” The conversion by Conzelmann is good, all tied up (7-7). Off the next play The Dudes get a free kick for a kickoff that didn’t go 10, and march the ball down the field to the 20 meter line. The ball is passed back and forth through hands until it gets to Cooper Smart, who has a possible lane on the outside but is marked up by Joel. Taking his chances, he cuts back inside and slips a tackle before getting brought down by Austin Girelli. Smart extends his arms as he goes down and just touches the ball down over the line. The crowd erupts in excitement as The Dudes take back the lead. Conversion by Cargill is good, Dudes lead (14-7). The excitement wouldn’t end there with Cargill scoring again on the very next play. The Dudes won back their own kick and 3 passes later it went to the hands of Cargill on the outside, who beat his defender and scored in the corner. Conversion no good, Dudes lead (19-7). Ross almost scored again when all The Dudes were drawn to one side of the field and Duker made a break for the opposite direction, but he was caught, and a diving over penalty for Ross ended the game. Dude take the win (19-7).

Mary Sue 33 vs. Jones 12 

The first try came about one minute into the first by Tohy Rakatovololona. A high tackle by Jones in their own territory led to Tohy taking a quick tap and go, slipping through Jones defense and touching down a quick and early try. His conversion kick is good, Sue Krew leads (7-0). Off the following kickoff, the ball makes its way into the hands of Matt Kasten. Sequoyah Burke Combes slams into him with gut wrenching thud and the sideline gives a very audible “oooooh.” Burke is penalized for not wrapping (a repeat offense for him, it would seem), but both players are seemingly unhurt. That is until a few phases of play later when Kasten takes himself out of the game because his finger was actually dislocated from the slam. Talk about dedication for trying to play through a game with the knuckles on your finger completely out of line. Coach/ Sir Sparks takes Kasten over to the sideline and after a minute of deliberating gives a tug on Kastens finger and fixes it enough for him to stay in the game. Damn. Off the previously interupted scrum, the Sue Krew moves it through the hands to Luke Mallery, who brings the ball to Jones’ 30 meter line. Tohy and Sequoyah use their speed to break the line throw a couple passes to each other. Conversion is good, Sues up (14-0). Kasten scores with what little time there is remaining in the first half after kicking a knocked on ball off the ground by the Sues and chasing for 40 meters. Sues are penalized in the breakdown following the chase, and a quick tap and pass by Cody Griffin to Kasten puts Kasten in the try zone, Conversion is good. Sues still up (14-7). The Sue Krew was still hungry for points in the first half though, and doing a quick tap and go off of Jones’ kick that failed to go 10 meters, Sequoyah scored a solo try. Conversion is good, End of the first half (21-7).

(bonus halftime show at 9:50 of the game video, The Dudes own Andre Cargill can be seen dancing to Backstreet Boys)

Jones and Mary Sue had a back and fort battle for the first couple minutes of the second half, but both sides squandered opportunities by going out of bounds and committing knockon crimes. Mary Sue scored almost 4 minutes into the second half after Tohy went to the unguarded weak side off a ruck in Mary Sues own end. Tohy breaks fro 50 meters before getting chased and tackled by Kasten, but Tohy offloaded the ball to Nick (Bronx) Fehrman before going down, and Bronx focused all of his prop power into his prop speed, and made a 40 meter break to score for Mary Sue. Conversion is no good, Sue Krew up (26-7). Jones somehow manages to score a try 2 minutes later. With a lot of poor passing relationship and unnecessarily going into contact, Jones manages to somehow maintain possession long enough to let Zack Burns (Retro) see an opportunity and chip the ball over the Sue defense. Sue player Juan Aguirre beats Retro Burns to the ball, but Burns tackles and poaches since Juan has no support, and Cody Griffin is on cleanup duty to carry the ball 2 meters into the try zone after Burns get tackled right after his poach. Jones still down (26-12) For the last play of the game, Mary Sues decide to buff their point differential rather than kick the ball out for a swift end. Sequoyah takes a tap and go off another kickoff the fell short, and makes one pass to Tohy who slips through the Jones defense as he is known to do to score. Conversion is good, Sues win it (33-12)

Ross 36 vs Oosterbaan 0

Ross starts the game with some good possession and consistent ball movement until it is unfortunately knocked on. However Ross regains possession and patiently marches down the field against Oosterbaan’s defense until they are at the 15 meter line, where Cole Van Harn makes a break to score. Conversion is good, Ross leads (7-0). Oosterbaan gets an early break off the following kickoff and make good territory until they get a playing on the ground penalty ( a seemingly recurring issue on a lot of teams) and give it back to Ross. A couple phases later, Van Harn makes another break down the sideline for 60 meters and runs it into the middle of the try zone for an easy conversion. Conversion is good, Ross up (14-0). The last minute of play saw 4 scrums, 2 for each team until the horn sounded with Ross in possession of the ball. Ross played patiently, moving the ball and only going into contact when they had to until Austin Girelli makes a half break, gets wrapped up, and makes a nice one handed offload to Van Harn, who passed it to Bang Meng Shi who ran it 20 meters untouched to score for Ross. Conversion is good, Ross leads the first half (21-0).

(halftime show of Sue Krew line judges Sequoyah dancing at 9:20 before it pans over to Bronx dancing, although the sound in the video unfortunately cuts out between the first and second half)

Oosterbaan’s kickoff fails to go 10 meters, Ross gets a free kick. Joel Conzelmann does a tap and go, and a couple phases later the ball goes to Bang Bang Meng Shi, who gets wrapped up by two Oosterbaan players but spin moves out of it before he hits the ground, and makes a 40 meter run to score a, dare I say it, explosive (BANG!!!) try to further Ross’ lead. Conversion just goes wide, Ross leads (26-0). Ross scores again just a minute later off of a poach by Chening Duker, who gets the ball back 2 passes later and slips through the Oosterbaan’s defense in a truly noodle-like fashion. If I’m being specific, I would say he resembled an Udon noodle more than anything else. Conversion kick is shanked and Ross still leads (31-0). Ross is relentless as they win back their kickoff, never losing possession and marching down the field again until Bang Meng punches in another try. Conversion kick is once again shanked (Joel has been letting other players kick the last few conversions) and Ross leads (36-0). Ross looks as though they are going to score again in the last minute of play, but Oosterbaan holds on tight and the game ends with no further action. Ross wins (36-0)

Duderstadt 33 vs Canhamm 5

The Dudes score first after a long break by Jeremy (Dozer) Reid, who got tackled by Travis Sawyer and lost the ball forward. Andre Cargill scooped up the ball and ran one way, didn’t like what he saw and ran back across the field, finding a gap and running through to the try zone with ease. Conversion is good, Dudes up (7-0). Andre would score again just a minute later with another break off a scrum, cutting left, right, then left again before reaching the try zone. Conversion is good, Dudes winning (14-0). With one minute remaining in the first half, Cooper Smart got an interception and ran 40 meters to the try zone, however the Canham had advantage for a diving over penalty that happened just seconds earlier, but it wasn’t called by the sir until Smart had made the run, even though Smart looked at the sir after catching the ball to see if he was going to blow the whistle before sprinting to the try line. Momentary Lapse of Reason, I suppose, the sir must have been a Pink Floyd fan. Off of the penalty, Canham moves the ball and patiently marches down the field, not trying to force anything. Drew (Disco) Vecchio get the ball in hand 15 meters from the try line and steps around a Dudes defender with his long meaty legs and gets a try just as the horn for the first half blows. Conversion no good, Dudes still lead (14-5).

(more bonus halftime show of Cargill dancing terribly to Uptown Funk at 7:40 of the video)

The Dudes start the second half with a big break by Nick (Biscuit) Azzopardi, who gives a one handed offload to Guy (Buddy) Burke who runs down the sideline before getting caught by the swift Juan Aguirre. Dudes hold onto the ball though and it makes it to the hands of Andre Cargill, who broke the line again to score with ease. Conversion is good, Dudes lead (21-5). The torment wouldn’t end for Canham though, off the following kickoff Canham catches the ball, and the first pass made is intercepted by Nate (Fish) Fisher, who all but jogs into the try zone. Conversion kick by Fish is shanked, Dudes lead (26-5). A minute later John Palladino scores a try for the dudes after a loose ball from a bad pass was scooped by Travis Sawyer deep in Canhams own end, a few phases later the ball gets to John on the wing who scores. Conversion is good, Dudes are up (33-5). Canham gets close to a scoring opportunity, but cant seem to finish as they cant seem to hold onto the ball just meters from the try zone. Dudes get a big break and Guy Burke almost beats Juan Aguirre but Juan is too fast and catches Guy, stopping him just short. Several phases later the ball goes out of bounds and the game ends, Dudes win (33-5)

Standings: