News Article
Ft Lauderdale Tournament Final :
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Brandywine, looking for a competitive event to kick of their spring campaign, entered the Ft Lauderdale Tournament with one goal in mind, bringing home the trophy and 1st place.
Photos thanks to Marvin Dangerfield Photography
Rugby clubs from all over the continent emerged from the doldrums of winter this past weekend at the 32nd annual Ruggerfest hosted by the Ft. Lauderdale Rugby Club. Brandywine, looking for a competitive event to kick of their spring campaign, entered the tournament with one goal in mind, bringing home the trophy and 1st place.
The opening match on Saturday was against Division II National Champion Raleigh, a familiar foe who had knocked BRFC from the MARFU playoffs only a year ago. A nasty knock down, drag out battle ensued with Brandywine leaving the pitch with heads held high as they took care of the Vipers 17-14.
Brandywine would take to the pitch for their second match of the day facing a local Boca Raton club. A quick try by Dave Wilson and another by Keith Cassidy off of a blocked kick quickly gave Brandywine an early edge. Moving the ball wide to the backs tired a larger Boca team, who in the end would give up 6 total trys. Three (3) of these scores were the product of tournament co-MVP Matt Stauffer, whose brutal and demeaning runs over and through would be tacklers paced Brandywine to the semi-final Sunday morning.
Sunday’s semi-final versus LIFE was the match of the weekend; a very hard-hitting, hard tackling game that was a good test of fortitude for a young Brandywine club. LIFE would open the scoring with a try and a successful conversion before BRFC would answer with 12 points of their own. The final score of 12-7 catapulted Brandywine into the finals against the Toronto Scottish.
With the worst humidity of the weekend wreaking havoc on the lungs of all players, Brandywine set out to leap over their last hurdle before raising the championship trophy. The Scottish came out strong, but the precise kicking and excellent decision making of tournament co-MVP Dave Bardwell put BRFC in the proper position to score points. Mauling and well-timed runs wore down the Toronto club, allowing Brandywine to score 17, while giving up 0, on their way to the tournament championship.
The leadership of captain Owen Gardner and play of co-MVPs Dave Bardwell and Matt Stauffer, tackling of Louis Tulio, pack leadership of Dair DiRemijo, and tenacity of Chris Vely were vital to the team’s success of the weekend. However, it was the mix and continuity of young and veteran players that pushed the club to champion status. Many young players including Paul Black (who scored his first try), Tim Wertz, Kevin Messner, and Kyle Rheiner stepped in and complemented the team philosophy and strategy well, not allowing the club to miss a beat in any game during the weekend. Every player answered the call with physical and mental acuity, making this a very successful opening weekend for Brandywine!
Spring 2010
