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By Alex Goff
The Chicago Lions won the Midwest 7s championships fairly easily, defeating the surprising Chicago Griffins 47-7 in the final.
Matt DeGutes led the Lions with three tries in the championship game, with Bowling Green University sensation Rocco Mauer adding two and Eddie Bluemel and Patrick Twardak adding one each. Scott Peterson kicked six conversions.
"We won but I still see things we can do better," said head coach Aaron Manheimer. "I thought we did a good job on defense - that's where it starts - and we spread the ball well. The Griffins are a good bunch of players with good rugby instincts, and Brendan Brown and Andrew Suniula are good players, but we have had more 7s this summer and seemed more 7s fit."
Manheimer said he used some of his team's blowouts to get subs on and develop his team's depth, which he added was improving.
"The guys know their roles," he added. "Everyone has a role - playmaker, finisher, support runner - and if they work within those roles we do well."
Both the Lions and the Griffins move on to the national tournament. Dark horse 1823 did not have their best tournament, suffering from a few card (yellow and red) in their pool games which saw them out of the running for the Cup.
Meanwhile YoungBloodz lost a close one to the Griffins in the semis, a game they would probably like to have another crack at.
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