Belmont Shore, Majestics Lead the Way in NAI Sevens Girls Elite
Belmont Shore, Majestics Lead the Way in NAI Sevens Girls Elite
Pool play isn't done in the NAI 7s Girls Elite but Belmont Shore and Majestics are looking good.
Both of these teams, who, coincidentally, were the finalists in the National HS Club Championships, are 3-0 after Day One.
Two more games remain before anyone plays a final, and Belmont Shore and Majestics don't play each other until Round 5.
This means we could very likely see Majestics and Belmont Shore in that final. The team that could crash the party is Atlantis, which did lose to Majestics 22-15, but could upend Belmont Shore if the California side isn't careful.
Belmont Shore's open-field tackling combines nicely with their excellent passing and daring running. Majestics has a bit more power and while they weren't too impressed with their games (close wins over Summit and Atlantis before shutting out the Utah Cannibals), they did win their games.
Atlantis ended the day with an impressive showing over Summit HS to get to 2-1, but they will have to beat Belmont Shore at 8:40AM Saturday morning to stay in the conversion. They started to play more fluidly and also defended well. They will have to play some keepaway against a Shore team led by Nila Lolesio-Pua and Flori Liufau that executes very well.
Current standings:
Belmont Shore 3-0
Majestics 3-0
Atlantis 2-1
Utah Cannibels 1-2
Summit HS 0-3
Rock Rugby 0-3
Some of this isn't about winning a championships. Wins were hard to come by for Rock Rugby Academy throughout their teams, but, said Program Director Paul McCartney, "while we like winning more important is getting players exposure to a good level of play. We played every team in the highest level possible, and we got everyone game time. Our girls team played really well in the first half of every game, but I think I take some responsibility for how the second half went each time because of how we managed player changes. Even so, we got players time and they got to see the level of play we're aspiring to."
