Rochester - The Long Island region beat
Western in an exciting overtime game to take
the Gold.
The LI team lost their first game in the
tourney to Western by 5 tries. Coach Jerry
Mirro rallied the team with a call to go
back to basics and emphasize defense.
The team then rattled off victories of
Hudson Valley (29-0), Central (28 -10),
Adirondack (31-19), and NYC (26-0).
Veteran leadership on the field from Chris
Hinke and Billy Coughlin provided a solid
base. Jason Ripley kept LI in the games with
explosive running and punishing defense.
The gold medal match was a sevens classic.
Western was very confident that they would
win by 4 tries and scored immediately on a
defensive lapse between two players on the
goal line but missed the conversion under
the posts. LI marched to mid field and
McDermott took a pass from Grasso and beat
two players to try zone - converted Coughlin
LI scored next with Ripley crashing and
dragging tacklers
The score was tied at half: 12-12
The teams traded scores throughout the
beginning of the second half with Western
going up a try with two minutes left.
A great combination of passes and run by
Grasso tied it with no time remaining.
In overtime LI dominated. Play was in the
Western zone the entire time. After several
close plays ball got to Coughlin on the wing
who went 20 meters breaking a tackle while
beating two players to the end zone.
The team was made up entirely of Long Island
Rugby club players and participants in the
Long Island Summer sevens program.
John Grasso was a step ahead of all other
scrum-halves all weekend and was named the
finals MVP.
Players: Brendan McDermott, Bill Coughlin,
Justin Ripley, Chris Hinke, Chris Harkinish,
Nick Mormando, Michael Kelly, John Grasso
Coach: Jerry Mirro
