Triumph for Panthers
The Panthers Rugby Academy waded through a very tough pool of teams to win the Boys U16 bracket. After going 4-0 in pool play the Panthers faced off with the 3-1 Charlotte Tigers in the semifinal, winning impressively 26-5.
Meanwhile, Belmont Shore took their 4-0 pool play record into the semis against EIRA, and came away with a well-taken 17-10 victory. Paced by Lenny Ibarra, who had been the starting flyhalf for Belmont Shore when they won the National High School Club Championships just two weeks ago, Shore had now made three major finals within that span—Boys HS Club, Boys U16 Youth 7s, Girls Youth 7s.
Panther Rugby Academy's defense was excellent throughout and especially in the final as they were able to hold the high-flying Belmont Shore side to just one try, coming away 19-5 winners.
Final Placement Boys U16 National Sevens Youth Championships:
1. Panther Rugby Academy
2. Belmont Shore
3. Charlotte Tigers
4. EIRA
5. San Diego Mustangs
6. Celina
7th: Upright / USA West
9: Atlantis
10: Badger Selects
Tribe Repeat
LA Tribe's deadly combination of speed, elusiveness, pass-work, and power was too much for everyone. Overall Tribe gave up only 24 points in five games, and they did that with punishing defense combined with good ball skills and ground work to keep possession.
In the semifinal on Sunday Tribe controlled the flow against a very capable Loudoun County side 29-5. LoCo did superbly well to take third overall, losing only that one game all weekend. Also showing well was Panther Rugby Academy, which shut out CATs 24-0 in their semi.
In the final, it was more of the same for Tribe as they outscored Panther 22-7 to take the title.
"Together we work good on defense, communicating," said Tribe's Marley Luatua. "And everybody's running the ball hard. As the games went on, we started getting better and better, and the championship, that's where we all clicked."
This team had some real talent that needs to be nurtured.
It's worth noting that the local teams did quite well in this bracket, with Ohio-based teams coming in 4th, 5th, and 6th. It certainly wasn't an all-California sweep.
Final Placement Boys U14 National Sevens Youth Championships:
1. LA Tribe
2. Panther Rugby Academy
3. LoCo
4. CATs
5. Westpark
6. Highland
7. Belmont Shore
8. Back Bay
9. North Pitt
10. Roosters
11. Hawkeyes
—Many thanks to Thomas Burrows, Liam Burrows, Kevin Krebs, and Charlie Sizemore for their reporting and video interviews from the Naional Sevens Youth Championships
