August 9-10, 2003

The SYC Screaming Eagle Blue U-11 and Blue U-17 teams each battled to their respective age division championship games, but unfortunately came up short and settled for 2nd place.

Two other SYC Screaming Eagles rugby teams also brought home trophies from the tournament, in which all nine SYC Rugby teams participated.

U-11 Division (Saturday, August 9)

The Red U-11s beat Ellicott City Green 25-15 and Lutherville-Timonium White 48-30 in the round robin.  In the Plate playoff semifinal, they lost a close one to North Bay 29-36.  North Bay went on to win the Plate championship (over Howard County Hurricanes Blue).

The White U-11s lost to South Bowie 15-51 but rallied to beat SYA Red 30-5 in their round robin matches.  In the Bowl semi, they lost to Cape St. Clair 5-32.  Cape St. Clair went on to win the Bowl Championship over SYC Green.

The Blue U-11s cruised through their round robin matches, beating L-T White 55-12 and Howard County Hurricanes White 67-7.  They crushed South Bowie 71-19 in the Cup semi, then lost a heartbreaker to Ellicott City Black 37-41 in the Cup final (U-11 league championship game).  We were ahead 37-36 when EC scored once more (we saw them knock on but the ref did not) to go ahead just before the final whistle.

The Green U-11s beat Winchester 41-10, then lost to North Bay 22-30.  They beat SYA Grey 53-17 in the Bowl semi, but lost to Cape St. Clair 12-37 in the Bowl final.

U-15 Division (Sunday, August 10)

The Red U-15s lost to South Bowie Blue 22-29 but beat West Carroll Green in their round robin matches.  In the Plate semi, lost to SYA Black. SYA Black went on to lose to North Bay in the Plate final.

The White  U-15s beat Winchester 48-31, then lost to North Bay 38-28.  They then beat SYC Blue 37-17 in the Bowl semi, but lost to Howard County Hurricanes 34-40 in the Bowl final.

The Blue U-15s lost 15-35 to Maryland Exiles, then won 27-26 over Lutherville-Timonium.  In the Bowl semi, they lost 17-37 to SYC White.  SYC White went on to lose to Howard County Hurricanes in the Bowl final.

U-17 Division (Sunday, August 10)

The Red U-17s lost to the Maryland Exiles and West Carroll (25-55), but rallied to win the 5th place consolation game over Lutherville-Timonium 42-31.

The Blue U-17s beat SYA 60-10 and Lutherville-Timonium 62-12. They then beat SYA again 66-17 in the Cup semi, but came up short against West Carroll in the Cup final (U-17 league championship game), losing 36-49.  Blue lost composure after some questionable calls, thus letting the referee affect how we played.  Bad idea!

For a recap of the PRUYL Tournament as a whole, see Potomac Youth Rugby Champions (written by SYC Rugby's Jeff Rupp) on the RugbyRugby.com Web site.

Congratulations to all SYC players, parents, and coaches on a great tournament and a great season!

Explanation of Playoff Structure: The PRUYL tournament follows rugby's "Hong Kong 7s" playoff format in which a team's performance in the preliminary rounds determines placement into several playoff brackets (listed from highest to lowest): Cup, Plate, Bowl, and Saucer. This format ensures that all teams have opportunity to win hardware against teams of relatively similar ability.