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UNITED STATES QUAD RUGBY ASSOCIATION
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11/98 Tampa I dethroned by Tampa II in
Valdosta The 9th Annual Valdosta Cup, perhaps the longest running quad rugby tournament in the USQRA league, was held November 20-22nd in Valdosta, Georgia. Each November rugby teams from throughout the Southeast United States converged on this small border town to compete for the coveted "Valdosta Cup." The location was originally chosen because it was a half-way point between the two founding teams, the Tampa Generals and the Atlanta Rolling Thunder. The tournament has continued to be played here thanks to the Valdosta Sports Commission and Sportaid, two organizations that have supported the event for the last several years. Tradition also plays a role. Since the Valdosta Cup's inception in 1989, the level of competition and number of participating teams has increased. Many powerhouse teams such as the Lakeshore Demolition and Tennessee QuadCrushers got their initial start in the sport at this tournament. In fact, it is the Valdosta Cup that has introduced all most every team in the southeast region to quad rugby. If a new team is spawned within 500 miles of Valdosta, chances are good that their first tournament will be played there. This was the case of the Fayetteville SRRC, a new team from South Carolina that just made their debut into the sport at the Cup. Eight teams from four states participated in this year's event. Attending teams, listed according to their seeding, were the Tampa Generals I and II, the South Florida Rattlers, Roosevelt Rolling Thunder, Sarasota Riptide, Charlotte Crash, Tennessee Titan's and Fayetteville SRRC. Both Tennessee and Atlanta are sporting new names this season and are each in the process of rebuilding their organizations. Despite both teams having a shortage of players and dramatically different line-ups from last season, they came with a desire to play tough rugby. Sarasota and Charlotte hoped that they might capitalize on this and leave Valdosta with victories over both clubs. Friday and Saturdays pool play was for the most part predictable. The higher seeded teams effectively beat their lower counterparts to set-up the Saturday afternoon crossovers. There were two games of note in the crossovers. The first placed the Tennessee Titans against the Sarasota Riptide for a chance to play for the Cups fourth place spot. Despite the Riptide holding a 3-point lead throughout most of their game Tennessee never gave up. Two 3-point scoring runs in the 4th period by the Titans provided them with the victory that the sought, 35-33. The second crossover game of note involved the South Florida Rattlers and Tampa Generals II. Both teams had an eye on Sundays Championship and knew that this game would be a war. All Tournament team 3.0 Mark Hickey led Tampa II into battle, while Tournament MVP, Emession Calle, spearheaded the Rattlers attack. Calle is visiting the US on a 6-month visa from Bucaramanga, Columbia, and is only in his second season of play. Every team in the league has recognized his athletic skills and amazing speed. In spite of South Florida and Calle's best efforts on the court, it was Tampa II that advanced to the Championship game with a score of 27-25. Sunday brought two huge victories and sent each winning team back home feeling great. The Charlotte Crash defeated the Tennessee Titans 35-32, and won the Jr. Valdosta Cup placing first in Division Two play. The second victory was even larger when Tampa II defeated Tampa I in the Valdosta Cup Championship. Tampa has a new line of international players with them this season, and they seem to be bringing new steam to both teams. Those players that stayed to watch the final contest witnessed a match worthy of being named the game of the week. A relentless pursuit of only victory helped Tampa II overthrow their counterparts by a point at the final buzzer, 35-34. The "Valdosta Cup" trophy again returns to Tampa, only this time it is the other guys who will hold the bragging rights. Special thanks to Music City Medical for being involved with this years event. 1998 Valdosta Cup Final Standings 1998 Valdosta Cup All Tournament Team |
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