Quad Rugby/Article - Northeast Regional Playoffs

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The U.S.Q.R.A. Northeast Regional Tournament was held at the Brockton, Massachusetts, Veterans Administration Medical Center gym on February 13, 14, and 15. There were 6 teams entered. The regular five participants from the northeast region, Maine, New York, Connecticut, Philadelphia and the host Boston team, and a team new to play in the northeast, the Los Angeles based Daniel Freeman Hospital Team X.

Play began at 4:00 PM on Friday as Connecticut gave an indication of how tough they would play this weekend when they took NY to the buzzer in losing a 1 point game 37-36. The schedule didn’t favor CT as they would play the 3 top seeded teams in a row at the beginning of the tournament. In their second game on Friday night, they faced Team X, who had petitioned for a transfer into the region. In an exciting, hard fought game, Connecticut took Team X to overtime before bowing 39-38. Meanwhile, Boston, 48-34 and New York, 51-36 had an easy time in the other two games played that night.

On Saturday, LA faced Boston in the opener at 800 AM. Both teams played a solid, low scoring, defensive game and after being tied 12-12 at half-time, Team X scored three unanswered goals at the beginning of the second half. It was a lead they would not give up as the two teams traded goals the rest of the way. Final 24-22, LA. Maine played their best game of the weekend in the second game of the day as they gave Philadelphia all they could handle before losing 35-31. Connecticut then faced the third of the three top teams, Boston. Connecticut showed the effects of their first two games, while Boston played angry after losing to LA. The first period ended with Boston leading 12-3. Boston substituted freely after that and won easily, 34-21. New York, LA and Boston all won again that afternoon, while Connecticut got their first win over Philadelphia, 35-33. The standings after the second day of play had New York at 3-0, LA at 3-0, and Boston at 3-1, with the first game on Sunday pitting New York against Team X, in what could be the championship game. However, if New York won, the final game against Boston would have major impact in determining the final standings as Boston would be back in the hunt for first place.

The game began with the teams trading goals for much of the first period. Angelo Mongiovi scored five in the period for New York as they led 8-7 at the break. New York got the first score of the second period to go up by 2. After Luz Ayala scored 1 for Team X, New York scored 2 more in a row and led by 3. Los Angeles got no closer than 2 the rest of the first half and were behind at half-time by 3 as Angelo Mongiovi scored 8 of New York’s 10 goals during that frame. Neither team had made any substitutions through the first half of play.

New York began the second half by scoring first again, going up by 4 and seemingly taking control of the game. However, Darrell Ray stepped up his play and began to take over the third period. He scored Team X’s first 3 goals of the quarter and 5 of their first 7 goals to eat away at the Stryker’s lead. Twice during the period, LA scored consecutive goals and the quarter ended with LA back in the game, trailing just 26-25.

As the fourth quarter began, Team X again scored 2 in a row to take the lead for the first time since the 9 second mark of the first period, 27-26. Darrell Ray again scored 5 of the first 7 goals for Team X and they held the lead until 3:05 remained. Carlos Guzman scored for New York to take back the lead 32-31. The teams traded goals for 2 1/2 minutes until Aaron Danton scored for LA to put them up 34-33 with 39 seconds left on the clock. Angelo Mongiovi then worked his way down the court and tied the game at 34 with 25 seconds remaining. Both teams had shown the ability to be patient and score with that much time, but the New York defense forced a turnover and after New York put the ball in play, Scott Davies got open in the key to score the goal with 5 seconds left to give New York the win at 35-34.

Darrell Ray had 10 of his team’s 19 goals in the second half, while Angelo Mongiovi scored 23 of New York’s 35 goals. The New York win had opened the door for Boston. If Boston beat New York by 4 goals, they would take first place based on the cumulative points tiebreaker. But, there were 2 other games yet to be played, and New York had a 3 hour rest period before the big game.

In the first of the other games, Connecticut handled Maine easily and won by a score of 38-21 on the scoreboard, but 1-0 in the record book as Maine took a forfeit for an ineligible player. It should be noted that Connecticut qualified for sectionals with only 4 team members present during the entire weekend.

In the next to last game of the tournament, it was expected that Team X would easily handle a Philadelphia team which really hadn’t played up to expectations thus far. However, Philadelphia, to their credit, dug down and found their game. The first period ended 7-6, LA, with Team X’s Aaron Danton watching from the sidelines, having broken his chair.

At the half, it was 16-14, LA, and everyone expected LA to put the game away in the third period. Aaron Danton came back briefly in the third quarter in a borrowed chair, but was ineffective and had to leave the game for good shortly thereafter. Without Danton in the lineup, Los Angeles had trouble against a fired-up Philly team that had fans screaming in delight each time they scored, particularly the Boston Pitbulls. The third quarter ended in a tie, 24-24. Philadelphia took the lead at 28-27 halfway through the fourth quarter and held it for a minute and a half, until they finally ran out of gas, made a couple of mistakes and LA scored the final 3 goals of the game to win 32-30.

That kept the scenario intact, and Boston needed a big win for first place. Boston had not played since the final game Saturday, so they were well rested, while New York’s starting 4 had played the entire game earlier that day.

The game started ominously for Boston, as Angelo Mongiovi scored 5 of New York’s first 6 goals and the Strykers led 6-2. Boston stayed in it however, and the score at the end of the first period was New York 9, Boston 6. The second quarter began differently as Boston scored the first 3 goals to get to a 1 goal deficit, 9-8. The teams traded goals until the 1:35 mark, when Boston put on a rush and scored 3 in a row to lead 15-14. New York tied it just before the buzzer and the second half started all even. New York had still not substituted through 6 quarters, including the first game of the day, while Boston ran numerous lineups at the Strykers and the Pitbulls players stayed fresh while the score remained close.

The third quarter was nip and tuck all the way, with the New York 1.0’s Scott Davies and Matt Senken becoming factors in the game as they combined for 4 goals during the frame. However, Boston unveiled their secret weapon, 1.5 Bob Boothby. Boothby scored 5 goals of his own during the quarter. The score at the end of the period, New York 25, Boston 24.

The fourth quarter would decide the final tournament standings. The 4th period began with Boston’s Will Kornegay tieing the game in just 10 seconds at 25 each. Goals were swapped back and forth with the Strykers going up by 1 or 2, and The Pitbulls coming back to tie soon after. With 3:14 remaining, Mongiovi scored the first of 3 New York goals in a row to put NY up, 33-30, with just 2:17 to go. It took Boston’s Adam Ellis 41 seconds to score and bring the Pitbulls within 2 at 33-31.

With 1:30 left on the clock, Boston substituted for all 4 players and brought in a rested group. New York, known for their ability to freeze the ball and hold a lead, decided to go for a goal and a 3 goal lead. Angelo Mongiovi took one in for a 34-31 lead, with just 54 seconds remaining, as the New York’s fans went wild. It looked to be over for Boston. But it took Will Kornegay just 11 seconds to score, 34-32. New York inbounded and Boston intercepted a clearing pass. Ken MacDonald, playing in a chair he’d broken during the final game Saturday, took it in for a 34-33 score with 35 seconds left. Boston, playing tough defense, again forced a turnover. Will Kornegay scored and the game was tied, 34-34 with 25 ticks left. Plenty of time for a score. The Strykers inbounded the ball. Boston’s press forced Angelo Mongiovi into the corner and he attempted a full court pass to one of his team mates. It hit the NY player’s chair and went out of bounds in the Pitbulls end of the court. 11 seconds left. Boston had no timeouts left to set up any kind of a play. Harley Freedman inbounded to Ken MacDonald while Will Kornegay occupied Angelo Mongiovi. Harley was able to find his way around the defense and streak for the goal. MacDonald turned, saw Freedman and heaved a long pass that was absolutely perfect, catching Harley in stride; the home spectators screaming wildly. He took the ball across the goal line with 2 seconds left to give Boston a hard-fought, exciting win.

The win created a 3-way tie for first place. With the tiebreaker in effect, Team X moved ahead of New York on the strength of their 2 goal win over Boston to nail down first place. New York finished second, and Boston third.

Of the 15 games played during the tournament, there were 7 games decided by 2 or less goals. Those who came to watch, and there were many, were treated to an exciting weekend of Quad Rugby. The 4 teams who move on to the Eastern Sectional Tournament in New York are the Daniel Freeman Team X, the New York EPVA Strykers, the Boston NEPVA Pitbulls, and the Connecticut Jammers.

Written by Frank Lynch

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