Independents Red Takes NCR All-Star Title
Independents Red Takes NCR All-Star Title
Independents Red wrestled back the NCR All-Star title a year after losing it to the Midwest.
This is the third year out of four that the New England Independents have won this tournament.
The Midwest looked very strong after sweeping through Pool Play on Saturday and torching the Mid-Atlantic 52-0 in the quarterfinals.
But the Reds started to find their rhythm in the quarterfinals, beating Independents White.
After that, they edged the Great Lakes 18-14. The Thunderbirds won all of their games comfortably on Day One but all three of their matches on Sunday were extremely close.
Jamie Phillips scored five tries in those first two knockout games.
The Midwest, meanwhile, held off a tough Southeast team 15-7 in the semis.
In the final, tries from Gjergji Bacuku (Hofstra) and Filimone Manu (AIC) along with seven points from the boot of Manulua Taula (St. Bonaventure) saw the Independents win 17-7 over the Midwest.
Taula and Boston College scrumhalf Bobby Voth shared the goalkicking duties and both produced clutch goals through the weekend.
Midwest and Iowa Central CC flyhalf Takudzwa Musingwini (see his GRR profile here) led all scorers with 45 points on three tries, nine conversions, and four penalty goals. Jamie Phillips of the Independents Red and Dartmouth led the tournament with six tries and was named tournament MVP. Bautista Saint Bonnet (Great Lakes and Thomas More) and Alex Nyamunda (Great Lakes and Wheeling) scored four each. Second in points and top in conversions kicked was Braden Thompson of Tri-State and Syracuse. He kicked 10 for 20 points.
| Southeast Bears | 34 | QF | 14 | Tri-State |
| Morrison, Beacom, van Rooyen, Richardson, Hanson, Hayes | Tries | Hogan, Guarino | ||
| Hamilton-Marino 2 | Convs | Thompson 2 | ||
| Midwest | 52 | QF | 0 | Mid-Atlantic |
| Gafa 2, Carda, Poth, Musingwini, Heimer, Han, Penalty Try | Tries | |||
| Musingwini 4, Han, Penalty Try | Convs | |||
| Ind. Red | 38 | QF | 7 | Ind. White |
| Phillips 3, Smith, Koi, Sanft | Tries | Kirklin | ||
| Voth 3, Frost | Convs | Beeck | ||
| Great Lakes | 11 | QF | 10 | Pacific Coast |
| Muleya | Tries | Wilson, Malauulu | ||
| Convs | ||||
| Phillips 2 | Pens | |||
| Midwest | 15 | SF | 7 | Southeast |
| Han, Webb, Musingwini | Tries | Starnes | ||
| Convs | Hayes | |||
| Ind. Red | 18 | SF | 14 | Great Lakes |
| Phillips 2, Evarts | Tries | Saint Bonnet, Nyamunda | ||
| Convs | Phillips 2 | |||
| Voth | Pens | |||
| Southeast | 29 | 3rd-4th | 24 | Great Lakes |
| Beacom, Travis, Almazan, Thompson 2 | Tries | Easterling, Mulaya, Saint Bonnet, Nyamunda | ||
| Travis | Convs | Mattassini, Saint Bonnet | ||
| Ind. Red | 17 | SF | 7 | Midwest |
| Bacuku, Manu | Tries | Pugh | ||
| Taula 2 | Convs | Musingwini | ||
| Taula | Pens | |||