Quad RugbyInvite - Capital City Clash

UNITED STATES QUAD RUGBY ASSOCIATION

February 2004

“One” Sweet “ICE” Tea Ya’ll
By John Ershek

Montgomery, Alabama is a charming little southern city. It is the birthplace of Hank Williams, the American Civil Rights Movement, home to Rosa Parks and Martin Luther King’s historic freedom march. It is nestled in between the magnolias and the kudzu, where people are friendly paradigms of quaint southern hospitality. And the food…it is southern cuisine at its finest…fried chicken…pulled pork bar-b-q…collard greens…grits…apple cobbler…banana pudding…and sweet tea…”ICE” tea that is.

The snowbirds don’t only swarm to south Florida these days. They also show up big time in the south’s most recent wheelchair rugby tournaments’ too. After squeeking by Lakeshore in overtime in the opening game in the Sheridan Height’s gym, the Ice proceeded to melt the rest of the competition in convincing fashion. They won handily over the Rattlers and TNT and pulled out close games down the stretch against Hoveround, the Who-ers and the Heat, becoming the only team in a talented field to go undefeated in this year’s Capitol City Clash. They better start wearing shades because the future is looking bright for Canadian rugby.

Number one seed Hoveround was in a position to sew up the number one seed at this year’s Nationals. After starting sluggishly against South Florida, they lost two games in a row to Lakeshore and the Ice. They proved “Lightning” can strike twice though as they came back strong on day two with solid wins against the Who-ers and TNT. But then they lost a close game as Phoenix turned up the “Heat” against them Sunday to win by one. They did provide this reporter with a highlight though as Rick Marshall’s mom spilled the beans with stories of her teenage sons self-gratification escapades over beers on Saturday night.

Phoenix came in the number two seed but didn’t do enough to solidly take over the number one seed for Nationals either. They pounded TNT in their opening game, but then barely beat the Who-ers by one. One was their magic number as the lost each of their next three games by one goal each. There was the 5 overtime thriller against Lakeshore, a 2 overtime heartbreaker to South Florida and a high scoring match against the Ice. Then they won by one against Hoveround on Sunday. Much to their credit, they were the Flemish Lions of the Clash by fielding only four players the entire tournament, just like Belgium in the Conveen Invitational in Tampa earlier this year. Maybe if they had even “One” more player they could have “Won” it all.

The TNT came in with high hopes to raise their stock for the seeding at this year’s Nationals. Unfortunately they “imploded” instead of exploding most of the weekend. They stayed close with the Who-ers and Phoenix for awhile on day one, but faded in the second half. They came out strong on day two with a clinic against the Rattlers, but then lost a close game to Lakeshore. They were not in the game for long against Hoveround or the Ice. Unfortunately their stock hit a bear market, but with the veterans they have you can never count them out completely come April.

Lakeshore was led by tournament MVP Bryan Kirkland as they “demolished” most of the competition all weekend when it really counted. They played well against the Ice in their opening game, but lost in overtime. They sent a message to the USQRA by beating Hoveround in their next game but ran out of gas against South Florida. Day two was statement number two as their unbendable steel will showed up again. First they beat Phoenix in the weekend’s best game…5 overtimes. Then they held off the TNT to lay their claim to a possible number one seeding in April. They finished Sunday with a one point win against the Who-ers after being down by three with three minutes to play.

Just “Who” were the Who-ers? They were made up of hopefuls for this year’s U.S. Paralympic team. They played well all weekend against some very strong competition, losing by only one to Phoenix and Lakeshore and in overtime to the Ice. They also had good wins against TNT and South Florida and a narrow defeat to Hoveround. Find me another pair of sunglasses ‘cause USA Rugby’s future looks bright, too.

South Florida “shaked, rattled and rolled” all weekend long. They played gamely losing against Hoveround, lost badly to the Ice, then beat Lakeshore by one. TNT beat them soundly to start off the second day of play, but then they beat Phoenix in double overtime. They proved everyone here was capable of beating every other team if they showed up with their “A” game.

Several reworks to the playing schedule with teams transferring back and forth between two gyms saw eight games decided by one point. One team beating another only to have that team beat the opponent they had just lost against. Lakeshore beat Hoveround, Phoenix and TNT. Hoveround beat TNT but lost to Phoenix. Phoenix beat Hoveround and TNT. TNT has beaten Lakeshore earlier this year. Texas has beaten Phoenix and Lakeshore. Phoenix has beaten Quake and the Bushwackers. Quake has beaten Texas. This year’s number one seeding for Nationals is up in the air. One guess is certainly as good as another.

And the food…food for thought that is…Montgomery’s Capitol City Clash round robin format did little to clear up the seeding for this year’s USQRA Nationals. The only thing for certain is the Ice can’t play for it. So have yourselves a big ol’ glass of sweet tea while you are trying to figure this one out. Ya’ll stay tuned.

A Funny Bounce - photos by John Ershek

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