The Union HS team out of Oklahoma won the Heart of America tournament HS boys bracket, coming back to defeat rivals Kansas City Junior Blues in the final.

Union defeated Olathe 43-3 in their opening pool and then defeated the Shawnee Mission East Lancers 21-0.

Sam Chapman scores for the KC Jr. Blues in the final of the Heart of America tournament. Chapman was outstanding all weekend. Jarrell Photography.

Lorenzo Thomas scores the winning try for Union in the HOA Tournament final. Jarrell Photography.

Meanwhile, the Kansas City Junior Blues beat Junction City by forfeit and Hopkins out of Minnesota 24-5 in a tough contest.

That set up two intriguing semifinals. Union defeated a tough Kansas City Cougars team 25-7, while the Junior Blues and St. Thomas Aquinas played a typically tight clash.

In that semi, Blues flyhalf Sam Chapman, who had a very strong tournament, scored in the corner early in the game and then hit the sideline conversion. Chapman then slotted a penalty to make it 10-0. But in a defensive battle neither team could get much more going. Aquinas finally squeezed in a try but the game remained bogged down in midfield, and the Blues prevailed 10-5.

And so on to the final. Kansas City started the stronger and No. 8 Dan Simon scored early, punishing a Union error. Then midway through the first half it was 14-0 when Chapman sliced through the Union defense and went over. He converted his own try and the Blues seemed in command. Chapman’s kicking from hand was solid and he pinned the Oklahoma team back in their 22.

Union needed to find a way to break through, and with ten minutes left they did just that, blocking a kick and going over to make it 14-5. Union stayed on the front foot after that, with flyhalf Seth Mischler making some key plays and center Lorenzo Thomas asking questions of the defense. Union scored, kicked the conversion and it was 14-12 with very little time left. The Oklahoma team quickly kicked off and worked some more phases.

“There were several moments when we could have dropped the ball or lost it and lost the game,” said Union coach Jason Todd. 

Mischler made one especially crucial play, catching the ball off his boot-tops to keep the attack going. Finally they set up Thomas to race through a gap and over a couple of defenders to score the game-winner in the corner.

“It was an extremely difficult loss for the boys,” said Blues coach Chris Lawler. “But credit goes to Union as they are a good team with some really quality players. They stayed in the game when it looked like they were out of it, and kept playing to the end. We were in control of the game until the last five minutes when our fitness let us down and we began missing tackles we had made all weekend. I think missing a few of our starters who were injured before the final, and playing three hard quality opponents within 24 hours finally caught up with us. But I think it will be a good lesson for the boys that we have to put the game away when we have the opportunity to do so.  Union is a very good team and we have played them several times over the last few years and all of the games have been close.”

Union was pleased to win, and even more pleased to beat the Blues - a team that had defeated Union in other tournaments in recent years.

“When we heard that the Junior Blues would be at the Heart of America, we wanted to be there too to play them,” said Union coach Steve Ingram. “We really wanted to challenge ourselves and play some teams outside of Oklahoma, and we did that. We had some really good games and it was a good, dramatic game against the Blues. The boys really responded well. When they were down 14-0 at halftime we talked to them and made some adjustments, but if you looked in their eyes you didn’t see any panic.”

It was a good, competitive tournament where points were at a premium. The game was played at a football complex so fields were narrower than usual. This meant the wings didn’t get a lot of space, and some games were just bottled up in the middle. It was, however, the same for everyone.

The Jr. Blues B side won the B Side Tournament, going 3-0 on the weekend as they beat Winnetonka, Liberty United and Aquinas B.