The New Mexico Highlands University Vatos defeated St. Mary's of Maryland in the final of the National Small College Rugby Organization (NSCRO) Men’s 7s National Championship Sunday in Chester, Pa.

The NSCRO Championship was held as part of the CRC weekend. The Vatos came to the event as strong favorites and backed it up, with Kevon Williams leading the way in a 31-7 win in the championship game.

During the semifinals held earlier that day, the Vatos shutout Franklin & Marshall College 22-0, while St. Mary’s edged Susquehanna University, 17-12.  In the third place match, Susquehanna held off F&M, 17-12. The Claremont Colleges got the better of Babson College for fifth place, while LSU Alexandria claimed 7th place with 26-12 win over Ithaca College.

On the evening of their history win, the Vatos traveled into Philadelphia for a fine victory celebration dinner before flying to Albuquerque, NM on Monday morning to resume their summer jobs. Five team members will be living in Denver this summer to play 7s rugby with the Denver Barbarians.

“One of the main reasons we hold our Championship at the CRC is to give our teams and their fans an outstanding experience that will inspire them to continue to improve,” said NSCRO President, Steve Cohen.

“I just asked them to play a good and entertaining game of rugby and enjoy themselves," said NMHU Head Coach Dick Green. "I told them to be focused and make the crowd enjoy it. If you can run like the wind and make the ball move, it will be fun. And that’s just what they did. We had a good weekend to say the least.”

“Today couldn’t have been any better," added Williams, who also co-captained the team. "Everybody was clicking on all cylinders and it was just really good. We were pretty cool and calm the whole time. For five of the seven starters it was their third time being in the championship game and everybody else had played in the final last year so we were prepared. We thought that we’d end up playing the team who we played in pool play - Susquehanna - who had a pretty good game in the semifinals but St. Mary’s beat them in the end.”

“We had a goal to win the National Championship and we accomplished it as a team, not as individuals. So it worked out perfectly,” added co-captain Eric Sykes.

For St. Mary's, it was a big step forward.

"They did great," said Coach Larry Donmeyer. "From being an at-large bid to getting to the final was huge. The played seemed to enjoy it, and it's part of us all trying to get to the next level."

With so many freshmen and sophomores on the squad, St. Mary's may well get there sooner rather than later. Earlier in the spring St. Mary's played in two warmup tournaments, but struggled. But those tournaments provided key lessons. At the NSCRO Championships, wing William Hankins and Alhaj Khadar were excellent for St. Mary's all weekend. 

“I thought the tournament was awesome," added co-coach Terry Pledger. "Our kids played well. The tournament was organized really well. I really enjoyed it. We were just happy to be there. It was a rough weekend. We played well and we were just glad to make it to the final. Our boys played well and got a little bit outmatched in that final. We’ll come back next year ready to play. The Vatos were awesome. It’s going to be hard to beat them at any level right now. They have a really good coach, strong players and well versed in offloading.”

NMHU in white. Photos by Colleen McCloskey for Goff Rugby Report