Mavericks Win Allen/Frisco Tournament Division 2

The Maverick Youth came away from Frisco champions of the 2nd Division. A great tournament hosted by Allen and the Frisco Griffins was played out in what was the windiest and coldest rugby day, and night, of the year. The finals were held just before the Frisco Griffins were to play the feared Texas Islanders. Results were announced over the loud stadium speakers. Many thanks go to John Shafto of Allen for organizing, all the coaches and players, the Frisco Griffins for inviting us to "Rugby TX Night", providing the spectacular venue for the finals and especially the Allen moms and dads who provided the tail gate in very cold conditions, who also ordered and picked up the trophies and set up the Allen field.

The Mavericks, with only 9 players, started out the day finding that our first game was hours away. This allowed us to have a intense and focused skills practice, fine tuning what was needed to accomplish our game plan. Our hands and passes were in top order and ready to lead us on to victory. Even our lineouts looked to be unbeatable.

Our first game was against Alliance 2 and though they had some size we made effective tackles, for the most part and won plenty of ball at the breakdowns. Alliance just couldn't keep up with our pace and ball movement. We finished that game without being scored upon. We didn't stick to the game plan as our backs kept the ball instead of passing, speedy winger Chris Merimon did not receive a single pass at wing. But, our athleticism won out with strong breaks on the inside, by Chris Kelly and Chris Schultz.

The 2nd game was against Plano 2. These guys were bigger and faster and did score on us but, they too, couldn't keep up with our speed and continuous breaks for the long haul. Again, ball hogging on the inside forced us to play some frantic rugby, and again, our natural abilities, experience and aggressiveness won it for us.

Having won both our round robin matches put us in the finals to be held at the Dr. Pink stadium in Frisco. After the sun dropped the North wind raged in dropping the temperature to near Arctic levels. Most of us were under dressed and shivering. After an understandably lack luster warm up, we took the field against Allen 2. This looked to be a big match against the toughest team in the other bracket on the widest, windiest field yet. We won the toss and elected to kick off with the wind for the first half. Promise Jackson scored on the opening kick off and we never looked back. (Hint: never let the ball touch the ground on any kick!) Unfortunately, high tackles by multiple Mavericks forced the ref to understandably dole out a yellow card, making us play a man down. After a big first half, Allen came out with their heads down and never got close to being in the game, even with us being down a man at the start. Allen played hard, with heart and never gave up but it was just too much to overcome.

The post tournament celebration was something to be remembered. For our D2 victory, we received the largest trophy yet to be handed out at a youth 7s tournament. Captain, Chris Kelly was recognized as D2 Tournament MVP and awarded a large trophy as well.

A great day by our fine Mavericks: Captain - Chris Kelly, Promise Jackson, Chris Schultz, Chris Merimon, Richard Gonzalez, Dillon King, Ginger Hanawacker, Lorenzo Marconi, Kasy Chapa.

If you have photos of this great event, please contact Mr. Kelly so that we may post them on the site.