Note of 2013: This is the copy I sent Rugby
Magazine for this, our first Cape Fear championship.
The edited article appeared in the August 15, 1994 edition of
Rugby.
Atlantis and Cherry Point following final at
1994 Cape Fear Sevens
Atlantis players, in green, top: Jack Shield, Joe
Morrison, Brian Collins, Greg Schor
Bottom: Kevin Gallant, Bob McAlear, Steve Burnham,
Brad Pardee, Larry Sims
Top Left Emil Signes, Top Right Bob Davis in hat, Referee
Mike Morgan in blue
Eighth time
lucky
Atlantis' first venture at Cape Fear was in 1987,
when the same 7 players - Mike Sutila,
Joe Taranto, Matt Leonard, Mike May, Joe McCann, Arty Fitzpatrick,
and Jerry Mirro - won five consecutive
games before losing to MOB in the semifinals. Until this
year, it had never surpassed that achievement here. The
frustration experienced at Cape Fear had become so ingrained that
Mike Siano, sitting in the locker room at Limerick (Ireland),
after Atlantis had beaten France, the Welsh President's VII and
the Irish Wolfhounds, felt compelled to muse, "Someone remind me
what's the best we've ever done at Cape Fear?"
Atlantis had, in fact, equaled or surpassed its prior Cape Fear
achievements several times in prestigious tournaments abroad, as
finalists at Limerick (1992, 93), and semifinalists in Kelso
(1988), Taupiri [NZ] (1990), Glasgow Accies (1993) and Benidorm
(1994).
Atlantis I
Both of Atlantis' Eagles Steve Siano and John
Flamish played for Atlantis I, as did its young developmental
players, including 20 -year old burner Lewis Jennings.
Atlantis I breezed through its round robin games undefeated,
including a 33 -5 defeat of Cherry Point, but were upset by
Washington in a nail biting 19- 17 quarterfinal.
Lewis Jennings. David Rogers has been
working with inner city youths in Bakersfield for the last two
years after beginning a similar program in Chicago.
About two weeks before Cape Fear, Dave called Atlantis coach Emil
Signes and mentioned the athletic ability of some of the players
on his team. He noted Lewis Jennings, a 20 year old who two
years ago was fourth in the state of California high school
championship in the 200 m sprint (21.0 sec). He mentioned
that it would be nice to get Lewis some experience and Emil told
him to ship him off to North Carolina.
Jennings played 3 games for Atlantis I and a WRFL game as well,
scoring three tries and running down several long breaks.
His most exciting try was an 80 yarder against Cherry Point, and
more specifically against Anthony Freeman, a legitimate 4.4
sprinter. He started with a 5 yard lead and maintained that
distance the entire length of the try.
He is still missing a lot of skills, but getting athletes like
Lewis involved in rugby has got to be good for the sport in this
country.
Atlantis I roster: Atlantis
number, name, club
216 Ken Burke, Pelicans (FL)
217 Brian Dettling, Bethlehem
78 John Flamish, Philadelphia-Whitemarsh
218 Tim Ford, Fort
Lauderdale
219 Lewis Jennings, Kern County
(CA)
220 Jeremy King, Fort Myers
221 Marsh Pennington,
Philadelphia-Whitemarsh
24 Steve Siano, Wilmington
222 Joe
Tatasciore, Bethlehem
223 Jason Wood,
Philadelphia-Whitemarsh
Atlantis II
With the exception of props (What about) Bob McAlear
and Greg Schor, Atlantis II's starting seven were all over 30;
these included hooker Larry Sims, scrum half Joe Morrison and fly
half Brian Collins, all closer to 40. Of Morrison coach Emil
Signes commented, "Mo is the slowest All- Star player that I've
ever timed. It's not even close. But he can play."
In the end, it was to be the craftiness of this geriatric midfield
trio, combined with the strength and power of McAlear and Schor,
and the speed of Steve Burnham and Kevin Gallant, that brought
about the Atlantis championship.
Atlantis
II roster: Atlantis number, name,
club
224 Joe Brudnicki, Pelicans (FL)
74 Steve Burnham, Maryland Exiles
173 Brian Collins, Washington Irish
174 Kevin Gallant,
Daytona
225 Greg Golden,
Sarasota
201 Bob McAlear, New Orleans
226 Rich McKenna, Orlando
22 Joe Morrison,
Bethlehem
227 Brad Pardee, Pelicans
(FL)
134 Greg
Schor, Life College
228 Jack Shield,
Pelicans (FL)
144 Larry Sims,
Pelicans (FL)
Round Robin
Atlantis I easily won its bracket defeating NOVA,
Raleigh and Cherry Point, while Charlotte knocked off Atlantis II
in Saturday's final game to get the number one seed in the
bracket.
The one surprising result in the round robin was Atlantis II's
convincing 20 0 defeat of Washington, in a game that featured Bob
McAlear's control of Washington's Chris Campbell at the kickoff.
Championship
Round
Washington avenged its loss to Atlantis II by
surprising Atlantis I 19 -17 on a last minute try, NOVA defeated
Charlotte, Atlantis II beat Raleigh, and Cherry Point beat the
Southern All Stars.
In the semifinals, Cherry Point easily beat NOVA, but Atlantis II
and Washington struggled to a regulation game tie. In the
sudden death overtime McAlear took on Campbell and fed Steve
Burnham for a 70 -yard try to win their second game against the
Eagle- laden Washingtonians (forwards Campbell, Scott Stephens and
Paul Sheehy, and fly half Al Dekin), 19 -14.
Final
The final game was another barn burner, as, trailing
12 -7, Cherry Point got back into the lead 14 -12 after a 60 yard
run by incredible speedster Anthony Freeman. With less than
a minute to go, Cherry Point was awarded a penalty kick within its
22, and opted to kick for touch. Atlantis stole the ensuing
lineout and Kevin Gallant scored about 6 inches from touch as
Freeman nearly bundled him into touch. Following Morrison's
unsuccessful conversion, the whistle blew and Atlantis had
squeaked out a 17- 14 win.
Atlantis
|
|
Cherry Point
|
McAlear
|
1
|
Oldknow
|
Sims
|
2
|
Pooler
|
Schor
|
3
|
Toolie *
|
Morrison
|
4
|
Nelson
|
Collins
|
5
|
Bowlin
|
Burnham
|
6
|
Taillon
|
Gallant
|
7
|
Freeman
|
|
|
* replaced by Young
|
Bob Davis
As manager of Atlantis and coach of Cherry Point,
Bob Davis was guaranteed a champion prior to the final. Bob
deserves credit for attracting several top athletes and building
an excellent sevens program at Cherry Point, a Marine Corps club
with nothing particularly noteworthy about it before Bob got the
sevens program rolling.
Atlantis:
historical notes
Since its first tournament in 1986, Atlantis has
participated in more than 40 tournaments, including 17 abroad, and
fielded 51 Eagles (including the 9 women Eagles on the winning
squad at the 1992 Benidorm Sevens). Perhaps more
impressively, 20 of these played for Atlantis before playing
for the US.
Despite this, after winning 2 tournaments in 1986 (Virginia Beach
and Hartford), Atlantis had gone almost 8 full years without a
tournament championship.
Atlantis is looking forward to participation in tournaments abroad
again in 1995 and welcomes sponsorship as well as new and exciting
young players.
Other Divisions
In the women's championship, the Maryland
Stingers defeated the West All Stars in a relatively close
contest, and Louisville defeated Wilmington (DE) in the men's club
division final.