Heads were definitely turned at the Friendship Cup in Day One with #1-ranked Charlotte Cardinals almost losing, and the #2 team Woodlands finding themselves on the losing side.

The team that did all of that? Cavemen. The program out of American Fork, Utah has quietly been building through their youth program and last year were Utah D2 champs. They knew they had more to give and, as you've seen on GRR's pages, have started the season in Utah's D1 on fire. They sure surprised their opponents.

Led by the play of flyhalf Tristan Mocke, who has been an excellent playmaker and goalkicker this season, and with Leo Esikia impresing many at outside center, the Cavemen ran out to a 21-7 lead over the Cardinals only to see the Cardinals race back to tie it 21-21. In their other game, Cavemen were fast and dynamic and beat Woodlands 28-20. They certainly took to heart the speech from visiting collegiate coach Troy Hall (Clemson), who told them to "get better or get beaten."

Coach Vaha Esikia's team responded well. Hooker Briggs Love has been outstanding for them and they have weapons of speed (Afu Liufau) and power (Latu Moeai).

Charlotte Tigers Head Coach Jason Paquette, who has to play Cavemen tomorrow, was impressed.

"They are a very dangerous team," he said.

The Tigers are pretty dangerous, too, and unleashed some serious pace—scoring right off the kickoff against Pendleton. While the Indiana team found it difficult to keep up with the pace of the Tigers players, they battled on despite losing twice on the game. Charlotte, for their part, beat Pendleton 38-14 and pushed The Woodlands before the Texas side wore them down.

"We definitely have a team capable of putting up numbers fast," said Paquette. "We need to play with more depth on attack to give us a little more time."

Time and space were at a premium in this competition.

Up front Woodlands is very solid, but they were burned when they lost the ball against Cavemen.