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New National Champion Blooms in the Desert The 1999 USQRA National Championship tournament held April 15-18
in Phoenix, Arizona was expected to be an intense exhibition of unpredictable rugby. While
the top-seeded Lakeshore Demolition and the second-seeded, three time defending national
champions Sharp Shadow seemed Leading the list of unknown teams was seventh-seeded Seattle AllNight. Restricted by financial obstacles, AllNight was unable to travel to the major tournaments during the regular season. The unknown element increased oppenents' anxiety, which was already great considering that Seattle often employed a lineup combining 3.5 Garret Hickling with 3.5 Steve Pate. While most people believed Seattle's unbalanced line would eventually be its downfall, no team really wanted to be the one to test the theory. AllNight was featured in the opening pair of games as it downed Casa Colina 51-39. The fourth seeded TIRR Houston Hurricanes blew out the San Diego Bushwhackers 48-30 in the other. Houston was the subject of conversation and controversy relating to the classification
debate concerning Steve Kearley. With the addition of 2.5 Curtis Palmer and Kearley's
classification as a 1.5, Houston was considered a darkhorse for the championship at the
start of the year. Kearley's reclassification back up to 2.0 this season had severely
damaged Houston's chances. Everyone knew Kearley would once again be tested and classed
during this tournament and the result would determine some teams fate. The classifiers
decided to watch Kearley play in some games during the weekend before arriving at a
conclusion, so his final status remained unresolved until day two. The second pair of games was highlighted by a sectional rematch between the ninth-seeded Tampa Generals I-who were the Tampa Generals II during the regular season-and the eighth-seeded South Florida Rattlers. South Florida had earned its first ever berth in Nationals by adding rookie 3.5 Emeison Calle. Calle, although limited in experience, had already earned a reputation for his blazing speed. Tampa I, though, was familiar with Calle's talents and relentlessly swarmed him en route to winning 40-38 in overtime. In the next game, the first year Texas Stampede relied on its Kiwi Combination of Jeremy Tinker and Paul Leefe to defeat the Mark Zupan-led Roosevelt Rolling Thunder 40-35. The third pair of games proved to be the duo of the day. In one game, the fifth-seeded Houston Hurricanes contested Lakeshore. Lakeshore's talent and depth was too much as it overwhelmed the 'Canes 46-39. Played simultaneously as the Houston-Lakeshore game was an intense match pitting Tampa II against AllNight. The contest was intriguing because Tampa represented a talented, balanced team with the ability to put three ball carriers on the floor as opposed to Seattle's two. The game was close throughout with the action crescendoing with less than a minute left and Tampa leading by one. AllNight's Steve Pate refused to take an easy, wide open score, fearing the quick tally would give Tampa the last possession and control of the game. Pate's delaying back-fired as his hesitation enabled Tampa to set up in the key and deny Seattle a last goal to triumph 39-38. The fourth pair of opening day games went according to seed as the fourth-seeded APVA Phoenix Heat cruised past South Florida 43-28. Calle was unable to play in the second half because Phoenix hits broke his chair in the first. On the other court, Sharp Shadow easily defeated Texas 49-34. Three of the four final games of the day when as predicted as Lakeshore crushed
bottom-seeded San Diego in the tournament's biggest blowout 46-21, Phoenix overcame a
deliberate Tampa I attack to win 26-24 and Shadow easily dispatched the Thunder from
Atlanta 46-28. However, tenth-seeded Casa Colina refused to simply follow suit. Day two started with South Florida beating San Diego 40-39, Casa Colina downing the Thunder 41-37 and Lakeshore living up to its nickname by demolitioning Tampa II 37-21. Phoenix and Houston followed with a heated battle. Many rugby observers wondered if the young, first-year Phoenix Heat were a legitimate power. A victory over Houston at Nationals would prove them worthy. However, the Heat were greeted with an unpleasant surprise ten minutes before the game when the classifiers officially announced Steve Kearley's reduction in classification from 2.0 to 1.5. The sudden change seemed to affect the Heat. Houston jumped ahead early and held on to win 46-41 to earn a rematch with Lakeshore. The next four games went according to plan as all the higher seeds defeated their lower seeded counterparts setting up the crucial crossovers that would determine who would play for the trophies. The first pitted Houston, inspired by the reclassification of Kearley, against Lakeshore. The Demolition continued to look like the team of destiny by defeating the Hurricanes 47-36. Lakeshore's opponent and final possible roadblock to a championship would be the victor of Sharp Shadow versus AllNight. The three-time champs were determined to make Lakeshore take their title from them by downing Seattle 54-42 to reach the championship game. The final day of the rugby season began with Roosevelt crushing San Diego 48-27 for eleventh place, Casa Colina beating South Florida 50-39 to secure ninth and Texas avenging its earlier loss to Tampa I 50-45 to capture seventh. The fight for fifth featured two teams trying to recover from having their dreams of
leaving Nationals with a trophy dashed. The perennial power Tampa saw their nine-year
streak of The battle for third place illustrated Seattle's lack of depth. AllNight 3.5s Pate and Hickling scored all of Seattle's goals, but they came up one short to lose to Houston 40-39. As Shadow and Lakeshore warmed up, the crowd was anxious to see the two juggernauts do battle. Shadow's only defeats of the year were delivered by Lakeshore, but they took pride in knowing that they were the "one" in Lakeshore's 45-1 record. The teams traded goals in the first quarter but Lakeshore scored both the first and last goals of the quarter to lead 11-10. The second quarter mimicked the first as Lakeshore recorded the first and last tallies of the quarter and capitalized on a Shadow miscue to lead 18-15 at halftime. Many in the crowd thought they were witnessing the end of the Shadow dynasty and the genesis of a new one. After Lakeshore's pressure defense padded the margin to 23-18 in the third quarter, the end of the game and the crowning of a new king seemed inevitable. On the brink of being blown out, Shadow responded by scoring four straight goals to pull within one, 24-23. The momentum suddenly shifted to the side of the defending champs and with Lakeshore leading 28-27 going into the final quarter, it started to look like the reigning kings of rugby would remain atop their throne. Shadow scored two straight goals to start the fourth quarter and take its first lead.
Lakeshore, who finished second at last year's Nationals, looked like they would have to
settle Although Shadow tried to even it up, Lakeshore played nearly flawless the rest of the game. As the buzzer sounded the end of Shadow's unmatched dominance, the boisterous Demolition sideline erupted and rushed the court. Rugby's monarch for the last three years had surrounded his throne to a new prince. "Our goal was to play to our potential. We knew the national title was the pot at the end of the rainbow. This is a strong team made up of strong people," said Lakeshore coach Kevin Orr when reflecting on the season. As everyone gathered for the awards presentation, a mixture of emotions was evident. Disappointment from those who felt their season ended too soon mixed with the joy of those whose expectations were met or exceeded. Yet, under all the superficial emotion was an undeniable sense of satisfaction. Whether the season's memories were of great goal-line catches or laments for being whistled for that "reach" that just couldn't be resisted, this was undoubtedly a great year of rugby. 1998-1999 saw new teams and young players striving to reach the athletic bar of excellence that the veterans of the sport continued to raise. And it didn't matter if players brought home accolades and trophies from this season's tournaments or simply the free T-shirts, because all of the participants in the symphony of hits and heartache and picks and pride that is quad rugby made the sport a forum where hard-working athletes succeeded no matter the final score.
Special thanks to the APVA and all the other terrific sponsors for making it possible for quad rugby to flourish. Special recognition to all the volunteers and support staff. Without your selfless efforts-whether providing rides to practice, agreeing to do the annoying job of recording the penalties or ripping that darn athletic tape-this great sport couldn't exist.
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destined to battle in the
Valley of the Sun for the right to ascend rugby's highest mountain, the 3-12 seeds
featured many new teams with young players, promising to make upsets harder to escape than
a low point player with red rims and a catfish front-end. 
Considering
Casa had lost to Seattle-a team Tampa II had already defeated-a Tampa II victory seemed a
foregone conclusion. But Casa shocked all by prevailing 40-39. 
finishing in the
top five at Nationals broken by the Phoenix Heat 40-36. 
for
the second prize again and simply chalk this season up as a learning experience. With the
game on the line, the Demolition proved their off-season training and in-season
accomplishments were education enough. Lakeshore's 2.0 tandem of Cliff Chunn and Bryan
Kirkland wrestled the advantage back by combining for three straight goals in the game's
key run. 
