29th Annual Monk Vaughan Sevens

Congratulations to ECU

ECU are the 2009 Monk Vaughan Champions. They won in dramatic fashion with back-to-back sudden death overtime wins over Richmond in the semi`s and then Norfolk in the finals.

Lions Grey

Despite giving up 2 quick tries in the opening minutes in the opening matches, the Lions showed resilence by staging comeback victories each time to win their Pool. In the semifinals, they fell in a heart breaking sudden death overtime match to the eventually champions ECU. The Lions looked like they were going to put in the final score with a breakway from a turnover, but a trailing ECU player snuck into the attacking line to poach a long pass and took it back for the win.

In the 3rd place match, the Lions dominated the first half against the Kenyan Exiles taking a 10-0 lead at the break. The Kenyans found some space in the second half against the tiring Lions to earn a come from behind win.

Highlights

• Nickys try saving chasedowns
• Daly`s at pace ankle catch that resulted in a try
• A face chargedown by Billy
• The game winning 50+ meter score by Kempf

Lions White

By far the most entertaining team to watch, Lions White was a crowd favorite. After a rough opening match-up against the Kenyans, they rebounded for an upset victory over Severn II and then shocked the tournament with a win over our very own VCU to make it to the Bowl finals.

Highlights

• Liam`s berserker plays
• Parker`s chip & chases
• Rookie Steve`s tackles and first try
• Rowan slicing through defenses
• Ben "Okie" Gokie`s Godzilla-like trundles (including one that involved tossing Duke around)

Special Thanks

This was by far the best tournament we`ve hosted in my 6 years here. Specials thanks is in order to:

• The "day" tournament director Tony and his night replacement NARC.
• Foghorn and Elwood for running the very busy concession stand for over 7 hours. "Elwood, cheeseburger" has been engrained into everyone`s brains.
• Ben Martin who as the on-site EMT had to endure watching since he could not go because of an ankle injury.
• Phil for organizing everything.
• Liam for transporting all of the gear, setting up the field, and coordinating the clean-up.
• Rookies Steve and Will who were the first rookies on the scene and were a huge help in the setup and breakdown