Beltway Rules, Joins Impressive List Of NY 7s Men's Champs
Beltway Rules, Joins Impressive List Of NY 7s Men's Champs
The men's brackets at the New York 7s provided plenty of action.
Beltway Elite, Canadian Misfits, and Bulldog Rugby each won their brackets at the New York Sevens on Saturday, as the tournament lived up to its global billing in its list of champions.
In the men's social division, the Belgium Barbarians earned a 21-7 win the in the final over the Godsquad, a team made up chiefly of former University of New Hampshire players and Charles River club members. The team name was picked as a tribute to former UNH coach John Gosman. That was a nice end for the Belgians, who weren’t sure exactly what they would encounter in New York.
In the men’s premier, Cowrie out of Lagos, Nigeria, was unable to make the tournament after a flight delay. It was a heavy blow to the Nigerians, and in their absence the bracket changed to a straight round robin, comprised of Northeast Academy, RCC (out of Sherbrooke, QC), Schuylkill River (PA), Equipe Quebec, and D.C.-area team Beltway Elites.
The hugely competitive bracket was punctuated by Beltway’s athleticism and pace in a 31-7 win over Equipe Quebec in the final.
Dmontae Noble and Aaron Gray out of Kutztown and Duncan Crystal and Brandon Johnson were college talents in the side, but it was an older player, Dave Hightower, who blew by the opposition to lead Beltway and win the bracket MVP.
Hightower, who is the track coach at Loyola University, combined size and strength with his acceleration, and Beltway followed a smart plan to punish teams in tight. When defenses keyed on Hightower or the almost as imposing Johnson, other players took advantage.
Bulldog, meanwhile, brought in some exciting players such as Corey Jones (Arkansas) and Royal Jones (AIC) as well as Lindenwood standouts Cristian Rodriguez, Nick Feakes, and Deion Mikesell. The combination proved to be unbeatable in the men's collegiate division as Bulldog took home the title in a 24-7 win over Atlantis.
Alumni and compilation college teams seemed to be the trend. Former players from Pelham (NY) High School who are now playing in college, including Luke Persanis (Delaware), North Westall (St. Bonaventure), Kevin Ndou (Penn State), and David Monaco (Fordham) — to name just four — joined Atlantis' collegiate division team to “put the band back together,” as coaches Matt Persanis and Ski Bailey said.
In the boys high school premier bracket, the Canadian Misfits knocked off New York's CODP by playing unflinching defense and using their size advantage as CODP had trouble winning rucks.