UNITED STATES QUAD RUGBY ASSOCIATION
March 2004
“Eenie,
meenie, meinie…”
by
John Ershek
WHOA…what a start. Usually a rugby tournament has to start before the sparks
start to fly. Not at this year’s 2004 Heartland Sectional, held in
Milwaukee, from March
19th – 21st. Everyone thought it would be difficult
to seed this year’s Division One Nationals, but who knew how hard it would
be to do the same at this particular Sectional, too. Or how long it would
take. 
First there would be a question of who to seed first. Lakeshore or TNT. TNT or Lakeshore. Lakeshore had just come off a great run at Montgomery, beating TNT, Hoveround and Phoenix in February. TNT had beaten Lakeshore in Valdosta in December, in Tampa in January and in Birmingham a week later. What a dilemma. How do you pick one over the other? Both teams had legitimate reasons to be seeded first. Do you go by the latest results only, point differential of all games played, who finished higher than the other at each tournament, start picking petals off of a flower or try counting toes? (psst…if you hold it…they will play)
Second, how to seed 3rd through 5th. Pittsburgh beat Chicago and Minnesota in December, lost to Chicago in January, then beat them in February while losing to Minnesota. Minnesota lost to Chicago and Pittsburgh in December, lost to Chicago in February, but beat Pittsburgh the same weekend. Chicago had not lost to Minnesota all year, but was only 1-2 versus Pittsburgh. This certainly presented the same problem as seeding Lakeshore and TNT. (psst…if you hold it…they will play)
Third, how to do this in a timely manner. The first seeding goes Lakeshore, TNT, Pittsburgh, Minnesota, and Chicago. Arguments are made. The next seeding goes TNT, Lakeshore, Pittsburgh, Minnesota and Chicago. Arguments are made. The final seeing goes TNT, Lakeshore, Chicago, Minnesota and Pittsburgh. Arguments are made. Sound confusing? The last and official seeding takes place March 17th. The tournament starts March 19th. Talk about taking a stick to a hornet’s nest. No one was happy with the last minute changes. (psst…if you hold it…they will play…thank goodness)
Finally, play starts on a cold Wisconsin Friday. There is still a chill in the air regarding the seeding. Hopefully, as the rugby heats up, so will the chill. There are no real surprises Friday as Lakeshore and TNT clearly show why they are the top two seeds. The lower seeds, Jackson, Great Lakes and St. Louis, all get in their games without any real upsets. The game of the day, though, and one of the more important games of the weekend, is the Pittsburgh – Minnesota game. This is the first test of the seeding and will most likely determine who gets to play in Division Two at Nationals. Minnesota wins 45 – 36. The first seeding holds up. Whew!
Day two starts with an unseasonably warmer day in the windy
city of Milwaukee.
As the temperature outside heats up, the tempers inside
the
gym begin to cool off. There are no upsets as all the seeds hold on to
their positions. Lakeshore beats Minnesota to hold up their seeding. TNT
beats Chicago to keep theirs, too. TNT beats
Minnesota in one
crossover and Lakeshore beats
Chicago in the other.
Milwaukee goes 2 – 0
and Pittsburgh gets off the snide. St. Louis ends their season losing to
Milwaukee, but they are really winners for their efforts in staying in the
USQRA as a registered and rostered team. Too may teams have left the
league recently. Everyone can take a lesson from their journey this year.
Day two ends with the participants set for Division One and Two at this
year’s Nationals. The only question left is whether the seeding will
continue to hold.
Day three starts off with snow flurries and frigid temperatures again, but the rugby really starts to heat up in the gym. Pittsburgh beats host Milwaukee. Jackson beats Great Lakes. Now the table is set for the two top rivalry games of the weekend and the last chance for the seeding to be tested. The semifinal between Chicago and much improved Minnesota is close throughout as Minnesota falls a little behind, then mounts a charge, falls behind, then mounts a charge until they run out of steam at the end with Chicago finally winning 36 – 32. Whew, again. One more seeding holds up.
Now for the final, folks. TNT versus Lakeshore. TeNnTucky
versus Alabama. This is a longstanding rivalry between the Heartland’s
two premier teams this year. After playing together for five years at
Lakeshore, Wayne,
Willard, Cliff, Bryan, Bob, LL, Eddie and Sully are on opposite sides of
the scorer’s table. There are a lot of friendships among the two teams.
There are a lot of great memories and accomplishments. There is complete
respect. Make no mistake though, each team wants to win badly.
TNT starts out strong leading by 2 at the end of the first quarter. They build their lead to 4 until Lakeshore mounts a furious comeback to trail by 1 at halftime. Lakeshore scores first in the third period to tie the game 14 – 14. TNT scores first in the fourth period to take a 2 point lead again. Then a turnover by Lakeshore and TNT is up by 3. The fourth period turns out to be the highest scoring and hardest hitting period of the game as tension and turnovers mount. Lakeshore closes out it’s second impressive comeback of the game with 2 goals at the end to tie the score 26 – 26 and send the game into overtime.
A 3 minute chess match takes place with each team slowly studying the moves of the other. Lakeshore scores first to lead 27 – 26. TNT ties the game at 27 all. A turnover by Lakeshore and TNT now leads the game 28 – 27. As Lakeshore holds the ball waiting for the last score to send the game to a second overtime, the players position themselves for one last fast and ferocious exchange of hits and passes. The ball goes up, chairs collide as a body hits the floor. The game is over. TNT has won. The last seeding has held. They held it and they played. Double whew…what a finish!
As friends congratulated one another for games well played and hotly contested, we end this 2004 Heartland Sectional with one last thought and one additional proposal for the USQRA. Team Minnesota drafted and all the Heartland teams have proposed a resolution for timely seeding of all future post-season tournaments. It isn’t fair to the teams or the organizers of these events to throw them into such disarray at the last minute. Programs and strategies must be made long in advance. Allow this proposal to be added to this year’s AGM and approve it. Oh, by the way, seeding this year’s Nationals will still be difficult. (psst…but it must be timely, too)
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