|
(Shore looks good. Ed Hagerty photo. Below, Aspen's Mike Palefau, NYAC v. Glendale.)
By Alex Goff
The Club Championship Series sponsored by the USA 7s tournament is producing some of the highest-level, most thrilling club 7s games anyone might want to see.
The event was created out of USA 7s sponsoring five select tournaments around the USA – Las Vegas Midnight 7s, Denver 7s, Kansas City Blues 7s, Cape Fear, and New York 7s.
Teams qualified out of that, and two wild cards were added to round out the field of 12.
In the early going, NYAC looked very polished, linking passes together and turning Glendale around at every opportunity.
But the Raptors hung on, and twice punished NYAC mistakes to score long-range tries. Maybe against the run of play, but 19-14 in Glendale’s favor nonetheless.
Old Blue and OMBAC engaged in an old-fashioned tussle. With Old Blue leading 21-14 and time winding down, OMBAC scored and had only the conversion to make to tie it all up. They didn’t make it, and Old Blue won 21-19.
SFGG hammered Long Island 26-0 in one of the few relatively easy wins of the game, while the Chicago Lions got a big game from Scott Peterson to beat the Kansas City Blues 21-17.
Denver beat Long Island 31-14 and NOVA looked good against the Blues 24-7.
But the class of the championship so far appears to be Aspen and Belmont Shore.
Aspen, led by Mike Palefau and Eric Walton speeding on the outside, tok down Old Blue 26-7 and then did the same for OMBAC, 33-5.
Meanwhile, Belmont Shore, led by a series of players with national team experience, have been superb. When you can bring on Dallen Stanford and James Gillenwater as impact subs, you’ve got a good team. Peter Sio continues to impress as Belmont Shore beat Glendale 47-0 and NYAC 40-0. Explosive and defensively sound, Shore could well be lifting a trophy in Sam Boyd Stadium on Saturday.
|