Intrasqaud Sevens Day Five

Game 1: Don Canham 12 – Mary Sue Coleman 24
Friday night sevens was especially intense this week as teams battled for the remaining seeds to get into the championship on the 17th. As expected, Canham set the tone early as they immediately went up two tries on Coleman. Scott Miller escaped a trailing Wilinski of Coleman to complete his 40yd score. Brandon Gardner made the conversion to tack on another 2 points for Canham. Not long after, Nick Lazurka mimicked Miller breaking the line from 30 yards out for another Coleman try, however, a missed conversion left the score at 12-0. Coleman, seeing their playoff hopes hanging by a thread, responded with an onslaught of tries and a shut down defense. Ty Waters sparked the comeback with a try from the 30 and Chad Kelsey converted. Soon after, Brandon Kolk embarrassed the Canham defense scoring two tries unscathed. Unfortunately for Kolk and the Coleman team, Kolk suffered an ankle injury requiring him to be escorted off the field. An inspired Coleman team seemed unphased by their speedster’s departure as Nick Marcus put up yet another try for the Coleman squad. The comeback for Coleman kept their playoff hopes alive.

Game 2: James J. Duderstadt 17 – Stephen M. Ross 12
The second game of the night was one marked by glimpses of brilliant play only to end with crucial errors. Just one minute into the game, Joel Conzelmann put Ross up on the board first with a long try that he converted. The men of Team Duderstadt answered back 2 minutes later with a great switch to Colin Ward ending in a try and missed conversion. Immediately after, a relentless Chris Padmos of Ross broke several tackles to score another try and add to Ross’s lead. With seconds left, Colin Ward capitalized on a confused Ross team to tie the score at 12 at half. Both teams put in great efforts in the second half with Duderstadt finally getting the go ahead try, scored by John Palladino, with little time left. The loss by Ross put them in jeopardy of losing the 4th and final seed for the playoffs.

Game 3: Bennie Oosterbaan 26 – James Earl Jones 12
In the first versus sixth place match, things got off to a typical start with an attacking Oosterbaan team putting a lot of pressure on a shaky Jones’ defense. After several series, Captain and Coach of Team Oosterbaan, Grady Bridges, exposed a hole just yards out for a self-converted try. With the number one seed on the line, Team Oosterbaan’s effort seemed to overwhelm a tiring Jones team. Twenty yards out of the try zone, Sebastian Harrison of Oosterbaan attacked the line with pace, breaking a few tackles before a final offload to Mark Borowski for another try converted by Bridges. Soon after, Bridges broke up the middle to put the half time score at 21-0. Not to go down without a fight, a desperate Jones team gave Oosterbaan a run for their money as young ruggers of Jones, Evan Rourke and Chris James, put in two tries, one converted by Steve Offringa, to bring the game within 9. Any hopes of a remarkable comeback were shut down though when prop turned scrumhalf, Chris Hopfner, stole the ball off a Jones scrum and scored his first try of the night, effectively putting the score out of Jones’ reach.

Game 4: Stephen M. Ross 17 – Don Canham 24
In the match that could seal a play-off berth for Ross, unexpected performances determined the winner here. Nick Lazurka got Canham a quick lead after scoring with just a minute’s time passing. Several minutes later, big Drew Vecchio broke the line for an amazing 60 yard score. At the start of the next half, Canham’s Lazurka struck again with a nice juke to break free for a try. Less than a minute later, Lazurka scored yet again, conversions made by Ian Etheart, digging Ross into a deep hole. Despite being down 24 with minutes left, Ross made a late comeback, putting up two tries by Joel Conzelmann and another by Chris Padmos to make things interesting, but the clock was not on Ross’s side this time around.

Game 5: James Earl Jones 17 – James J. Duderstadt 24
With the playoff seeding already taking form, this match may not have meant much in the standings, but was exciting nevertheless. In accordance with the games earlier in the night, a try was scored just after a minute into the match after Chris James put Jones on the board and Steve Offringa converted. Jones added another try after Ben Clemens sprinted down the sidelines escaping chases by a few dudes of Team Duderstadt. Matt Crabtree put an end to the developing upset with a chip to try with 2 minutes remaining in the half. Soon after the second half began, Crabtree scored again after taking advantage of a Jones’ penalty. Right after, Crabtree capped off a memorable night after picking the ball from Jones and off loading to Zach Kendall who broke the line for a 60 yd score. The scoring onslaught continued as John Paladino battled his way to the end zone for another score for his dudes. Crabtree made two of the four conversions. A late effort by Chris James in the last minute left a final score of 17-24.

Game 6: Bennie Oosterbaan 34 – Mary Sue Coleman 7
The last of match play had a lot on the line for both of these squads. For team Oosterbaan, a number one seed was at stake and for Coleman, a playoff berth. However, this game was over almost as soon as it began as Oosterbaan put up big numbers fast. Grady Bridges started the match with a quick try right up the middle. Mark Borowski added another try soon after with a burst up the sidelines. Not to be outdone, Grady copied his first try by running it right down the middle again for Oosterbaan’s third. Fast Richi Kanu of Oosterbaan displayed his quickness after taking the ball laterally across the field until a hole opened in the defense. Oosterbaan continued their dominant performance after textbook passing down the line ending with Chris Hopfner to score the 5th try of the match. Bridges was 4 of 5 with the conversions. Nick Marcus kept Coleman from being completely shut out as he added a try for his evidently crushed team. Chad Kelsey converted. The game ended with yet another try from Bridges to tie a single game point record previously held by the Dudes.