The Illinois Tornados North won the Midwest Challenge Cup Boys Varsity bracket Sunday.

Which Tornados team - North 1 or North 2 - doesn't really matter. Both teams went 2-0 against other opposition, and were set to play in the final game. However, given that the entire Illinois Tornados North program will be touring South Africa in a couple of weeks, they decided to not play that game and avoid injury risk.

Head Coach Lou Raymond was pleased, overall, with the teams' performances, as they both beat Indy Speed and Des Moines.

"They performed well," said Raymond. "I've been with this program for ten years, and this has been tough because we changed some things. We put more pressure on the boys to take on more responsibility, and that was a bit of a struggle. But they came through and they are developing."

They better. They have a two-week, four-match tour of South Africa to look forward to.

Among the standouts for the Tornados teams was prop Spencer Krueger of the Arlington Stallions. He was powerful and dynamic, and a handful for the opposition. No. 8 Joey Backe (Neuqua) was also excellent, while in the backs Sebastian Laskowski, also of Neuqua, had a strong weekend.

Varsity Scores:

Tornados North 1 49 Indy Speed 27

Tornados North 2 34 Des Moines 0

Tornados North 2 17 Indy Speed 12

Indy Speed 31 Des Moines 12

Meanwhile, in the JV bracket, the Tornados, led by player of the tournament Jacob Goeppner (South Suburban), beat Indy Speed 38-31 and 25-21 to win.

Indy Speed won the Middle School bracket, winning the semi over Illinois Hurricanes A and the final over Fox Valley Chiefs - both games on Saturday.