Week 5 of Intersquad 7s Shakes Up the Standings Before the Championship

This week had some short numbers to due various injuries and sicknesses floating around the team. 3 of the intersquad teams had to borrow members from other teams, but games continued nonetheless. Some unexpected results sets up the standings for next weeks championship, when the top 4 teams will be battling for the plate.

Ross 35 vs. Jones 12

The game starts with a Ross kickoff and and an excellent break by Alex (mud) Hummel, but gets dragged out of bounds by Joel Conzellman. Joel takes a quick lineout and Ross moves the ball across to Bang Meng Shi, who has almost a mirror run to Mud’s on the opposite side before getting dragged out by new player Erik Soreide. A minute later Jones gets a fantastic try with Big Chris Byer making a break by cutting through the middle before offloading one handed to Retro Zack Burns who finishes the run and touches the ball down between the posts. Conversion is good, Jones take the lead (0-7).  Chening Duker gets a long break down the sideline to answer, but gets pushed out of bounds just 15 meters short of the try line. However Ross gets a second chance when Jones knocks the ball on after winning the lineout. Ross wins their scrum and move the ball wide to Bang Meng, who slips around the edge and runs 20 meters to score. Conversion is good, all tied up (7-7). Bang Meng does it again at the end of the first half with a huge 80 meter break. He get the ball in hand, cutting inside to beat the first defender, then cutting inside again then back outside on the sweeper to break free, then nearly fumbles the ball untouched before getting the try in the middle. Conversion is good, Ross takes the lead (14-7).

Joel Conzelmann gets a huge break at the beginning of the second half, running down the sideline and then cutting across the field to try to beat the sweeping Retro Burns, but Burns puts on a good chase and slows Joel down enough so that Jones players Ben Clemens and Ian Charpie can make the tackle 10 meters from the try line. It would be no use though, Ross players move the ball around and a couple phases later, Chening Duker picks the ball up out of the ruck and throws a nasty dummy pass, making his defender take a step and opening a gap so Chening gets an easy 10 meters for a try. Conversion is good, Ross pulling ahead (21-7). Bang Meng gets his third try just a minute later when Retro Burns takes the ball in without enough support, and Meng poaches and runs straight ahead untouched 30 meters for the try. Conversion is good, Ross leading (28-7), Eric Soreide of Jones answers with a nice 60 meter break down the sideline, but is brought down by a high tackle. Jones takes a quick tap and go and get the ball to Ben Clemens in the middle, who slips through the defense and gets a quick try.Conversion goes wide, Ross still leads (21-12). The end of the second half was a long battle and constant change of possession in Jones’ end as Ross tried to punch it in and Jones wanted to get it out. Finally, Cole Varn Harn gets through the defense with a dummy switch to Bang Meng. Conversion is good (barely) and the game ends. Ross wins (35-12).

Oosterbaan 19 vs. Canham 26

The majority of the first half was spent in Oosterbaan’s own end of the field. Canham kept up the pressure the keep the ball the there, but countless knockons and going out of bounds kept them from finishing. Oosterbaan played some good defense to keep them out of the try zone, but lack of depth and going into contact without enough support kept them from moving the ball out of their own end. Finally, Tomer Chen of Oosterbaan gets a break through the middle 4 minutes in and runs 65 meters for the try. Conversion doesn’t make it, Oosterbaan up (5-0). Canham answers with some strong runs and maintaining ball posssession, marching down the field against Oosterban. Jordan (Violent J) Ulmer had a couple of strong runs, and on his last he offloads to Mike Rawetzki, who breaks a tackle from Ron Marine who tried to strip the ball, and runs clear into the try zone. Conversion is good, Canham takes the lead (5-7). End of first half.

The second half started with a lot of poaches from both sides in Canhams end. Both teams were aggressively going after the ball, which is good, but did a poor job of maintaining possession. Oosterbaan gets the ball when a loose ball was kicked from the floor by a Canham player and it ended up in Oosterbaan’s hands. Oosterbaan then moved the ball across the field to Jon Bain, who slipped through the line and brought Oosterbaan back into the lead. Conversion is good, Oosterbaan leading (12-5). Canham responds quickly with a try from Jeremy (Dozer) Reid. Dozer gets the ball in hand just 3 phases after Oosterbaan’s kickoff and hits a line hard, slipping through a tackle and running 50 meters for a try. Conversion is good, Canham takes the lead back (12-14). Canham would score again when Matt (Dough Boy) Ko [a Ross player subbing for shorthanded Canham] poaches a ball just 5 meters from Oosterbaan’s own try zone. Canham passes it to Violent J Ulmer who slams it in to get a try. Conversion goes wide, Canham pushing their lead (12-19). Violent J Ulmer punches the ball in again just a minute later off of a tap and go, taking advantage of Oosterbaan’s tired defense and slipping through the line with a stiff arm with ease. Conversion is good, Canham winning (12-26). With time already out, the last try of the game came much like the first one. Tomer Chen gets wrapped up but breaks the tackle and sprints ahead 70 meters to score a try for Oosterbaan. Conversion is good. Canham wins (19-26).

Mary Sue Coleman 19 Vs. Duderstadt 12

Mary Sue looked to score early as they won back their opening kickoff and marched down the field on the The Dudes, but the SueKrew couldn’t seem to finish and the ball tumbles out of bounds. The Dudes respond with a big break by Andre Cargil to get it out of the deep Dudes territory, but blunders in the Sues end also cost the Dudes a potential try. Mary Sue gets out with a break by Sequoyah who trucks Cooper Smart on the way like he just got his commercial drivers license. Fortunately for The Dudes Sequoyah offloads to Juan Aguirre and Juan gets tackled by Smart who chased the ball down after his humiliating destruction. Tohy gets the ball from the ruck and does some dancing and flailing, avoiding a tackle and slipping out of another without moving more than a meter, then tries to float a pass to Juan on the wing but it is intercepted by Smart. Smart offloads to Nick (Biscuit) Azzopardi, Biscuit to Jesse Fenno, and Fenno offloads to Nate (Fish) Fisher, who catches the slippery ball off of his leg.Fish goes into contact and Dudes look as they are going to score as they try to move it back out, but a falling offload by Biscuit to Cargill goes too low, and a knock on is called. SueKrew wins the scrum, but Cooper Smart intercepts another ball from a falling offload, and The Dudes move it wide to Fish Fisher, who scores on the edge. Conversion is good, Dudes winnng (0-7). Dudes win back their following kickoff, and the ball moves to Cargill. Cargill seemingly forgets that there are six other players on the field as he goes for the sideline, ducks a tackle, cuts back in, fakes a cut back out, then back in again, ducks a tackle again, goes for the sideline again, stiff arms, ducks a tackle, cuts back in, then FINALLY offloads to Austin Girelli (A Ross player subbing for the shorthanded Dudes). Unfortunately Austin goes into contact and the ball gets poached, but fortunately Sues get called for diving over. Fenno takes a quick tap and go and dishes to Biscuit Azzopardi, who cuts back inside and throws a stiff arm, and runs 10 meters to the try zone with Tohy holding his arm the whole way. Conversion goes short. Dudes lead (0-12). SueKrew responds quickly, with Jackson (S)Wagner getting the ball off the kickoff and breaking for 30 meters, then offloading to Tohy who runs the remaining 50 meters with ease, Dudes not even bothering to chase. Conversion is good, Sues coming back (7-12).

Dudes win back their kickoff to start the second half, but Sequoyah strips it almost immediately and tries to run wide. Travis Sawyer wraps him up and pushes him back 15 meters before they both go to ground. The ball moves to Tohy on the wing with a man on his outside, and Tohy cuts in to get another break with blinding speed to score a 50 meter try. Conversion is good, Sues take the lead (14-12). Dudes get the ball back and Cooper Smart gets a 40 meter break then tries to throw a pass to Fenno on the sideline who catches it and could have scored, but the pass was forward. Jackson Swagner intercepts a pass a minute later at half and makes a 35 meter break, but gets tackled high when chased from behind and Sues get a penalty. Sues battle hard to get the ball into the try zone, but Dudes play solid defense to keep them. Tohy kicks a grubber to the edge and Juan chases and the ball just tumbles out of the tryzone and into the netting at the back of it right as Juan touches the ball down, but the sir rules it a try anyway for some reason. I suppose he had an alternative motive.Conversion no good, Sues leading (19-12). Dudes fight hard for a try at the very end, but SueKrew plays some really strong goal line defense and keep the dudes out. Sues kick the ball out and secure the victory (19-12).

Jones 43 vs. Oosterbaan 0

Jones fights hard in the first hard in the first two minutes, pushing Oosterbaan back into their own territory, but lose the ball on a knock on. Ben Costarelis takes the ball into contact, and Cody Griffin poaches it from him, running 10 meters for a try and getting 5 points for Jones. Conversion goes wide, Jones winning (5-0). Oosterbaan looks good as they move down the field on Jones from the kickoff, but Cody Griffin poaches another ball, and Jones moves it to Retro Zack Burns, who slips through the line and gets a 75 meter break to score, no one even bothering to chase. Before taking the conversion kick, Mike Shay runs out to deliver a sugar free Rockstar energy drink to Retro, who takes a sip, gets a picture taken like a celebrity, then makes the conversion. Jones winning (12-0). Jones pounds it in again a minute later when they intercept a bouncing pass in Oosterbaans own end. Conversion is no good, probably because Retro Burns didnt drink any Rockstar this time. Jones would score one more time after the horn in the first half. Cody Griffin gets the ball and throws out some serious spin moves and stiff arms to get away from tackles and touches down in between the posts. Conversion is good, Jones winning (19-0).

At the start of the second half, Jones scoops up a loose pop popping out of a ruck and Retro Burns moves it to Kasten, Burns loop and Kasten gives it back, then Burns gives a one handed overhead pass to Mud Hummel on the wing. Mud breaks down the sideline and throws out an arm as stiff as a week old baguette, dodging the tackle and making it into the try zone, conversion doesn’t make it. Jones still leading (24-0). Oosterbaan bobbles the following kickoff and it goes out of bounds. Burns throws a quick lineout and it goes to Big Chris Byer, who breaks the line then offloads to Nick Mattes, who uses some change of pace to fakeout the defense and make it into the try zone. Conversion no good, Jones pulling farther ahead (29-0). Jones doesnt let up, and Kasten gets another break through the middle to score 40 seconds later. Conversion good, Jones winning ( 36-0). Oosterbaan keeps on turning it over and frankly it was painful to watch. Jones gets another try when Oosterbaan throws a pass that goes behind a player, and Kasten scoops its up and runs only 10 meters to score again. Conversion is good, Jones up (43-0) and the games ends. Jones wins.

Mary Sues 28 vs. Canham 29

Canham gets an early break down the sideline when the ball gets to Jeremy (Dozer) Reid. Dozer plows down the sideline and gives the stiffest of arms and nearly makes it, but gets dragged down. Several phases later Canham punches it in. Conversion goes wide, Canham up (0-5). Mary Sues respond off the kickoff with consisten ball movement, then a skip pass gets thrown to Luke Mallery. Luke shoots for a gap and gives a stiff arm to a Canham player, giving him a sample of what astroturf tastes like. Luke breaks free and runs 50 meters for a try. Conversion is good, Sues take back the lead (7-5). Sues punch it in a minute later when Tohy gets a break and switches with Juan, who offloads to Seqouyah and gets into the try zone, but gets held up. Canham wins the scrum and kicks it out of bounds to clear their territory. Canham gets the ball back, and Dozer hits a fat unders line to break through the Mary Sues and gets a 40 meter try. Conversion is good, Canham back in the lead (7-12). Last play of the half and its a scrum to the Sues, Tohy gets the ball and runs to the unprotected weak side and runs 60 meters to score a try and get the try to put sues in the lead at half (14-12).

Canham takes the lead back at in the first play of the second half when Dozer dives on the ball after it popped out of the back of a ruck. Burns picks it up and passes to Violent J Ulmer, who then passes to a new player known only to me as Sang, and Sang scores on the outside. Conversion no good, Canham takes the lead (17-14). Sues knock the ball on off the following kickoff, and Canham wins the scrum. Burns moves the ball to Sang, and Sang offloads to Violent J, who fights off some tackles using his prop strength, and just gets over the line to score again for Canham. Conversion is good and Canham is winning (24-14). Mary Sues respond with a big break by Juan Aguirre down the sideline, but he gets stopped by a high tackle from behind 15 meters short of the try zone. Several phases of moving the ball side to side, Sues get it wide to Tohy who breaks around the edge and scores. Conversion is good, SueKrew catching up (24-21). Sues get the ball again with just a minute left out of a scrum and march down the field until Tohy once again uses his speed and agility to get through the line and score to put SueKrew in the lead with just 30 second left of the clock. Conversion is good and Sues lead (24-28). Canham has one last chance to score off the kickoff, AND THEY DO IT! Canham places some disciplined rugby and maintains ball posession until Dozer gets the ball in down the sideline. Conversion doesnt make it, but Canham beats SueKrew (29-28).

Duderstadt 17 vs Ross 19

Ross almost scores early on the first play when The Dudes over commit to trying to win back their own kick off and pay the price. Robert Dunne gets the ball and runs down the unguarded sideline. Just 15 meters short of the sideline, he gets stopped by Cooper Smart and Andre Cargill, and 2 phases later The Dudes poach and get the ball back. However, Dudes knock it on and give it back to Ross in their own zone. Several plays later the ball goes wide to Bang Meng and he gets a try with ease. Conversion is good, Ross leads (0-7). Ross kicks the ball directly out on the following kick off, and Cargill taps it to himself on the free kick and makes a solo break and gets stopped 10 meters short of the try zone. He tries to offload to Smart on the wing but the pass was too low and the ball tumbles out of bounds. However Ross’ lineout was misthrown, and Nate Fisher scoops up the ball and scores for the Dudes. Conversion doesn’t make it, and Ross still leads (5-7). The Dudes and Ross battle it out in Ross’ end of the field for the following 2 or so minutes with both teams pretty evenly matched. Finally Ross gets a not releasing call, and Kasten (subbing for the shorthanded Dudes from Jones) does a quick tap and go and moves it to Andre Cargill, who just barely gets into the try zone right as the first half ends. Conversion is good and Dudes lead (12-7).

One minute into the second half, Ross gets a lineout at midfield. Cole Van Harn gets the ball, and bobbles it untouched but backwards and picks it back up. He charged forward, throwing out stiff arm and driving his feet through another tackle until he breaks free, and makes a 50 meter run for a try. Conversion goes wide, Ross ties it up (12-12). The Dudes respond quickly on the following kickoff. The ball is caught by Fish Fisher and moved across to Andre Cargill, who breaks down the field then moves it to the sideline to Cooper Smart, who runs the remaining 40 meters to score in the corner. Conversion doesnt make it though, Dudes lead (17-12). Ross also responds quickly to The Dudes’ quick response, and Chening Duker slips through the line one phase after the kickoff and runs 80 meters to score a try, faking out the sweeper along the way. Conversion is good, and Ross leads (17-19). Dudes had possesion when time runs out, and had a chance to score, but Cooper Smart knocks on an easy pass and ruins their chance at victory, ending the game. Ross wins (17-19).

Standings going into finals: