August 10-11, 2002
The SYC Screaming Eagles U-17s beat the Maryland Exiles 21-19 to win the inaugural U-17 championship at the Potomac Rugby Union Youth League Tournament, held this past weekend in Bowie, Maryland. In a hard-fought final, SYC saw its 4th quarter 21-5 lead evaporate under heavy Exiles' pressure but still held on to win.
Three other SYC Screaming Eagles rugby teams also brought home trophies from the tournament, in which all six SYC Rugby teams participated.
U-11 Division (Saturday, August 10)
SYC's White U-11s lost both their preliminary round matches: 25-29 to Howard County Hurricanes White and 10-50 to New Windsor Green. In their Saucer playoff [see explanation below] semifinal they lost to New Windsor Black. It's always tough to lose but White played hard and without a few players who would have helped them do better.
SYC's Red U-11s lost their preliminary matches 15-36 to North Bay and 7-40 to Severna Park Green Hornets. But they rallied in their Saucer playoff semifinal to beat the Maryland Exiles 32-20. Then in the Saucer final they came up short against New Windsor Black and settled for the U-11 Saucer finalist trophy.
SYC's Blue U-11s drew the toughest preliminary match of all and had to play Ellicott City Express Black, comprised of the Express' best players and ultimately the tournament champion. In a back-and-forth match, Blue battled hard and trailed by only one point—21-22—going into the 4th quarter. Two knock-ons cost them possession, which the Express turned into scores to win 21-32. SYC Blue then whipped New Windsor Black 52-15 in their next preliminary match, and cruised through the Bowl playoffs beating Ellicott City Green 46-10 and Lutherville-Timonium Red 44-5 to win the Bowl Championship. Nothing wrong with that, but we know that Blue could have made it the Cup playoffs—the highest playoff bracket—had bad luck not brought the preliminary round match-up against Ellicott City Black. Their coach and a few of their parents told SYC Head Coach Jeff Rupp at the end of day that SYC Blue was the toughest team they faced all day and the only one that really could have beaten them. Oh, the (bad) luck of the draw!
U-15 Division (Sunday, August 11)
SYC's Red U-15s lost their first match to North Bay but rallied to beat the Severna Park Green Hornets.
Meanwhile, SYC's Blue U-15s beat long-time nemesis Howard County Hurricanes 45-24 and also New Windsor Green 38-15. Based on record and point differentials, both SYC teams were placed in the Plate playoff bracket where they faced each other in the semifinal. In a well-fought game, Blue prevailed over Red 31-12 to move on to the final against the Howard County Hurricanes, who beat the Andover Apaches in the other Plate semifinal. SYC Blue wasted little time taking over the match and cruised to a 57-22 victory to win the Plate Championship.
U-17 Division (Sunday, August 11)
The U-17 division was new this season, and four teams played in the tournament. SYC narrowly lost their first match to the New Windsor Marauders, but cruised past a combined Andover Apaches/Lutherville-Timonium Vipers team to compile a 1-1 pool record and earn the #2 playoff seed on the basis of points. In the semifinal, SYC again faced and beat the Apaches/Vipers team, winning a chance to meet in the final the Maryland Exiles, who had dispatched New Windsor in the other semifinal.
SYC dominated much of the final match and took a 21-5 lead deep into the 4th quarter. But apparently the August heat and very understandable exhaustion started to get to our guys and they let the Exiles back into the game by giving up two converted tries that brought the score to 21-19 with about two minutes left. While SYC coaches Jeff Freeman and Jeff Rupp paced very nervously on the sideline, SYC held off a furious Exiles onslaught inside the SYC 22-meter line. Finally, time expired and SYC celebrated winning the inaugural U-17 championship.
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.
