Schuylkill River Wins USA Club 7s Eastern Super Qualifier Over Old Blue

Schuylkill River defeated Old Blue 19-14 after a lightning delay to win the Eastern Men’s Rugby Sevens Super Qualifier, the Philly Sevens and became the first team to qualify for the USA Club Sevens Nationals in Kansas City on August 10-11, 2019.

The Philadelphia Rugby Sevens was held at the Greater Valley Sports Complex in Malvern, PA on June 29, 2019. Divisions included Premier and Club Men and Women divisions, Flag, U13, U15 and High School Girls and Boys. The Premier Men’s Division winner earned a spot in the USA Club Sevens Nationals.

The tournament provided an opportunity to meet with and interview both the Men’s and Women’s Premier Coache, as well as the tournament host Schuylkill River’s U23 Academy Coach. The interview links are at the end of the article.

The Eastern Super Qualifier for the Men’s Premier Division included three USA Club 7s regions, including the Mid-Atlantic (5 teams), Red River (2), and Northeast (1). The Mid-Atlantic and Red River regions have one team that qualifies from the region, while the Northeast has two. As the result of Schuylkill River winning the Super Qualifier, the Mid-Atlantic will have two teams representing the region.

Men’s Premier Pools

Pool A: Dallas, NOVA, Schuylkill River, Washington
Pool B: Austin Huns, Beltway Elite, Old Blue, Pittsburgh Pandas

Women’s Premier

The Philly 7s was not a Qualifier but will count towards eligibility in playing in two Qualifiers before Nationals. The Mid-Atlantic qualifiers are/were June 22 in Baltimore, July 13 in Wilmington, DE, and July 20 at NOVA.

Pool C: Scion, DC Furies 1, NOVA 1, Philly

Women’s Club

Pool D: Philly 2, MD Stingers, 3 DC Furies 2, NOVA 2

Men’s Open

Pool E: NAV (National Athletic Village), Washington Irish, NOVA 2, Washington
Pool F: Schuylkill River U23, NOVA 1, Beltway 2, Maryland Exiles
Pool G: Beltway, Norfolk, Lehigh Valley, NOVA 3
Pool H: Old Blue, Molly Maguires, Schuylkill River Black, Frederick

Men’s Premier Squads

Photo: Norma Salinas – Austin Huns

Austin Huns: 1 Austin Vandier 2 Suliasi Yabakidua 3 Daryl Bagley 4 David LeMasters 5 Shawn Cox 6 Justin Hale 7 Ryan Kretchmar (C) 9 Matthew Novitzkas 10 Junior ‘Pita’ Naruma 11 Ricky Chestnutwood 12 Alex Rees

Beltway Elite: 1 David Hightower 2 Cuyler McCorkindale 3 Campbell Johnstone 4 John Davis 5 Joanel Joseph 6 James Lyons 7 Joe Hughes 8 Luc Desroches 10 Will Taylor 11 Jordan Bakoude 12 Jake Soriano 13 Robert Barberi

Dallas: Back left to right – Lynn Howard, Dale Russ, Ben Olie, Richard Stevens, Miles Herring, Breyten Maritz, Zack Klump, Thomas Hever, Chris Howard Front left to right – Christian Schulze, Etoni Tonga, Ludwig Van Der Merwe, Chad Joseph, Narada Jackson, Dieonte McMurray, and Matt Young

Dallas: 1 Etoni Tonga 2 Richard Stevens 3 Kelly Kolberg 4 Christian Schulze 5 Ben Olie 6 Zack Klump 7 Chad Joseph 8 Breyten Maritz 9 Matt Young 10 Ludwig Van Der Merwe 11 Naranda Jackson 12 Thomas Hever 13 Miles Herring

NOVA: 2 Charbel Medej 3 Eric Popilus 4 Luke Bressan 5 Caleb Strum 6 Adam Henderson 7 Michael Medej 8 Joshua Thorne 9 Brian Mulloy 10 Robert Figley 11 Dacoda Worth 12 Adam Regini 13 John Taylor

Old Blue: 1 Tinasle Muchena 2 Derek Lipscomb 3 Philip Salter 4 Connor Wallace-Sims 6 Clinton Oaniyi 7 Gavan D’Amore-Morrison 8 Chase Shcor-Haskin 9 Ryan Manning/Gary Heavner 10 Koto Fujimura 11 Mike St. Claire 14 Christian Artuso 15 Juan Pablo Romero

Pittsburgh Pandas:

Schuylkill River: 2 Bruce Dolan 3 Ben Janssen 3 Pat Boyle 5 Peter Mulville 6 Kyle Hegarty 7 Perry DaQuan 8 Dan Giannascoli 9 John McCurdy 10 Sam Devine 11 Alex Faison-Donahoe 12 Mitch Vannoy 99 John Ramirez

Washington: 1 Batinisavu Uluiyata 2 Amani Manning 3 Anwaar Muhammud 4 Trevelle Blount 5 Anton Fletcher 6 Logan Legg 7 Tevita Manitavuki 9 Kobie Tuckson 10 Ray Gajkowski 11 Matthew McDaniels 12 Thomas Demetriou 44 Josh Sandoval

Women’s Premier Squads

DC Furies:

NOVA 1:

Philadelphia: 1 Coryn Rank 5 Taylor Wuerker 6 Lucy Dawson 7 Kate Flanagan 8 Mekayla McAdoo 9 Brittanie Booker 10 Kelsey Howarth 12 Saleiha Mayer-Marks 13 Becca Silver 14 JD Rivera 15 Katie Mueller 16 Anna Grasso 17 Remy Bremner

Scion:

Men’s Premier Results