The New Jersey Blaze girls team galloped to win the Girls HS Championship at the Surfside 7s this past weekend at Stone Harbor, NJ.

The Blaze finished 5-0, outscoring opponents 159-30, and shutting out all of their opponents in pool play.

The Blaze began their 5-0 run with a 28-0 shutout win over South Jersey. The tries were spread about between Delia Hellander, Mel Marotta, Carly Waters, and Allie Mennella. Walters and Mennella converted all four tries.

Next up was a 56-0 dismantling of North Bay 2 out of Maryland. Again, the scores were spread about between Allie Decrane, Hellander, Kat Ramage, Mennella, Waters, Jordan Cowan (2), and Marotta. All eight tries were converted by Waters and Menella.

The third and last match of Saturday’s play was another shutout win, this time against Union 19-0. Tries were put down by Alie Ramage, Decrane, and Jordan Cowan. Waters converted two of the three.

This put the Blaze on a path to winning the round-robin tournament (all teams played each other), but they needed to work a little harder in their final two games. First up was North Bay’s first side. Tess Feury, who remained sidelined on Saturday with an ankle injury jumped in with three tries in the first half before she came out. Another was added by Decrane, and all four were converted - three by Feury and one by Kat Ramage. North Bay did not go down easily, scoring three tries, but could not convert any of them, leaving the score 28-15 and put the Blaze in the final against Doylestown, who was also posted a 4-0 undefeated record to that point.

Doylestown had beaten North Bay I as well, but it was a close-run thing, as they edged the Maryland team 17-15 on Saturday.

Doylestown put up two quick tries taking a 10-0 lead in the final, but the Blaze came storming back with four tries of their own by Menella, Decrane, Feury and Kat Ramage. They converted all four of them before Doylestown touched down once more. Final score, Blaze 28 Doylestown 15.

The championship was the third straight at Surfside for the Blaze. The NJ Blaze closed out their summer sevens season winning the cup at the HSRC, the Tri-state sevens, the Blazing 7’s, and now Surfside sevens.

It was a meaningful win for many, including Tess Feury, who started the team. The NJ Blaze were the first 7s team in NJ, and recently spun off upstart Union Rugby girls 7s which was started by two former NJ Blaze players Tori Breza and Mara Freidman. The Blaze are sending two teams to the Youth Olympics in Nanjing China, in Tess Feury (expected to captain the team) and Kat Ramage.

This weekend, Tess Feury invited fellow All American Allie Decrane, from Ohio to join the Blaze at Surfside. She also invited Carly Waters, who will be joining Feury at Penn State this fall as incoming freshman.

Certainly, Decrane and Waters played well and added to the teams success, but also stepping up at surfside was Jordan Cowan, Delia Hellander, Mel Marotta, and Allie Mennella who visited the try zone often and set up many other scores.

The tournament ended with Doylestown in second place, North Bay I in third, followed by Union County, South Jersey and North Bay II.

Final Rounds of Pool Play
Final Round Sunday July 20th
NJ Blaze 28 - Doylestown 15
North Bay I 25 - South Jersey 10
North Bay II 0 - Union County 50

Fourth Round Sunday July 20th
NJ Blaze 28 - North Bay I 15
North Bay II 0 - South Jersey 32
Doylestown 20 - Union County 5

American High School Sevens Pool Play
First Round Saturday July 19th
NJ Blaze 28 - South Jersey 0
Doylestown 45 - North Bay II 0
North Bay I 24 - Union County 12

Second Round Saturday July 19th
NJ Blaze 56 - North Bay II 0
North Bay I 15 - Doylestown 17
Union County 31 - South Jersey 5

Third Round Saturday July 19th
NJ Blaze 19 - Union County 0
Doylestown 38 - South Jersey 5
North Bay I - North Bay II (match not played)

NJ Blaze Team Lineup
(For more on the Blaze go to http://www.morrisrugby.org/teams/new-jersey-blaze )
Romi Bruno
Jordan Cowan
Tammy Cowan
Allie Decrane
Tess Feury
Delia Hellander
Mel Marotta
Grace McGurn
Allie Menella
Alie Ramage
Kat Ramage
Kelsey Svaasand
Carly Waters