Valdosta Cup Rundown

By Terry Vinyard

Hello Rugby Enthusiasts,

The 7th annual Valdolsta Cup was played the weekend of Nov. 8-10, 1996 in Valdosta Georgia.

In division 1 pool play Alabama defeated Suncoast with no time left on the clock. With 12 seconds remaining Tampa's other squad attacked for what would have been the winning goal. Bama blocked the post pass on to the court. Willard Brooks beat Mark Hickey to the ball asking for a time out as he was picking up the ball, his momentum carried him across the goal and the ref puased and then signaled the goal to win 25-24.

Tampa easily handled Atlanta as would the rest of the pool. They were missing class 2.0's Bob Lujano and Bill Furbish who was ill.

Tennesse and Tampa engaged in a 32 minute war which Tampa nipped the Quadcrushers by two. Tennessee was missing both Lee Moore and Bart Dodson, however their lineup of Crouch, Chunn, Jordan, and Romero proved to be quite effective.

Tampa and Tennessee both grinded out low scoring victories over Alabama. This set up rematches of both the one point battles in pool play.

Alabama played almost flawess as Suncoast could only produce one turnover against the Demolition. Alabama took third place with a five goal win over Suncoast 29-24.

In the Championship Tampa fell behind once early but was able to regain a lead they would never relinquish. They lead 17-15 at half and eventually won 30-26 over Tennessee to keep the coveted Valdosta Cup for another year.

In division 2 Sarasota won both it's games against South Florida to earn a match with the 5th place Div. finisher Atlanta. The Riptide came the closest that they had ever came to Atlanta in a 26-32 losss. The Riptide actually had a chance to tie Atlanta just before the half.

South Florida made two strong runs at Sarasota, in pool play they lost by one and in the pool championship Sarasota topped them 28-24.

The Charlottte Panthers made their debut as a team a memorable one as they beat the New Orleans Rino's by one in the Cup's only overtime game.

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