JULY 27, 2014 (rev. July 31, 2014)

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Atlantis tournaments / return to Atlantis home

The Atlantis High School boys, in their second-tournament ever, won the championship at the Surfside Sevens tourney in Stone Harbor, NJ. In addition, several will still be available to play next year and even more in tournaments with U-19 divisions.

Biddy Boyle deserves 100% of the credit for proposing and fielding our first Atlantis boys and girls teams earlier this year; everyone involved - players, parents, coaches, staff - was very proud of our efforts and achievements, and this is a program we plan to continue indefinitely.

The team. For this year's program we were able to draw on players from the squad we had in Las Vegas in February, players that came to our camp earlier in the summer, and players recommended by coaches we respect.  While we don't restrict our squad's composition, this year's team was mostly from Pennsylvania, but came from as far east as New York, as far west as Cleveland, and as far south as Wilmington, DE. In the table below, Atlantis rookies are in red. Those players that will be starting college in September have their 2014-15 school in blue.

Atlantis  #	Name	HS in 2013-14	Team in 2014-15	Jersey No.
1000	Liam Boyle	LaSalle College HS (PA)	LaSalle College HS (PA)	XIII
1001	Jack Bradfield	St. Edward HS (OH)	St. Edward HS (OH)	II
957	Ryan Bradfield	St. Edward HS OH)	St. Edward HS (OH)	XI
959	Raekwon Caswell	LaSalle College HS (PA)	Albright College (PA)	V
1002	Chris Curcio	Archmere Academy (DE)	St. Joseph U. (PA)	XII
1003	Amir Furman	LaSalle College HS (PA)	West Virginia U.	VIII
1004	Tarik James	New York RC	American Int'l College (MA)	X
965	Ryan Maguire	Cumberland Valley HS (PA_	Wheeling Jesuit	IV
966	Aeden Mangan	St. Ignatius HS (OH)	U. of Dayton	VII
1005	Jack McLean	Conestoga HS (PA)	Conestoga HS (PA)	I
967	Manny Soto	Exeter HS (PA)	U. of Oklahoma	IX
1006	Luke Stratton	Malvern Prep (PA)	Malvern Prep )PA_	VI
1007	Austin Weber	St. Anthony (NY)	U. of Oklahoma	III

Staff was Jack Foley (Coach), Biddy Boyle (Manager), and I (Emperor).

Format.  There were 16 teams in the Boys' HS Division and the format was four brackets of four.  Beyond the round robin stage, however, the format was unforgiving: no crossovers in case one division happened to be "loaded."  The top 4 teams played for places 1 through 4; the second place team in each division for places 5 through 8, etc: (third place teams for 9 through 12 and fourth place teams for places 13 through 16).

Round Robin. The winners of the four divisions were Atlantis, NJ Blaze, Maryland Exiles, and Carolina United. 

Maryland Exiles.  For this tournament, the Exiles added 6 players from national HS champion Gonzaga and two from Pride (formerly Hyde HS).

NJ Blaze are a full-CIPP registered HS sevens team that draws on players that play for different high schools during the school year. The majority of players at this event were from Morris with Union and others also represented.

Carolina United.  Carolina United is a regional HS team that represents the Carolina region.  (Find info!!).

Semifinals: In the championship bracket Maryland Exiles defeated NJ Blaze in a tight semifinal match, 24-12. Maryland scores included 2 by Aaron Gray (Pride) and Chris Minor (Exiles). Jimmy Ronan (Gonzaga) had 2 conversions. Blaze try scorers were Kevin Trotter (Union) and Royaal Jones (Hudson Catholic); Mike Dabulas (Union) kicked a conversion.

In the other semifinal, Atlantis struggled in the contact area, and Carolina, as was Doylestown before them was superior in this phase of the game. In the end Atlantis' speed was too much for Carolina United; Atlantis won 21-7 with a try by captain Manny Soto (Exeter HS [PA], heading to U. of Oklahoma) and two by Aeden Mangan (St. Ignatius [OH], heading to U. of Dayton), who also had the conversions.

NJ Blaze, defending 4-time tournament champion, defeated Carolina United for the Bronze.

Final:  Atlantis had been outmuscled at most contact situations over the weekend, and their strategy for the final was to go to a minimal contact style (little used these days) that can be described as "pull-out at the edge, ball to pocket, change direction without rucking."

The final began with a converted try by Maryland's Chris Minor who just ran right by the Atlantis defense; it all looked too easy. The still below is taken from the video; Atlantis actually had more defenders than MDX had attackers; the play started from a lineout and we had 4 against their 3 backs.


The score stayed that way till early in the second half, when Atlantis scored three unanswered tries. All three were initiated from turnovers; two of the three incorporated the quick change of direction at the edge that was part of the game plan. Tries were by Ryan Maguire (Cumberland Valley HS, heading to Wheeling Jesuit), Aeden Mangan and Manny Soto; Mangan converted two.

Photos below by Amy Siano.





Ryan Maguire was Atlantis' leading try scorer with 6, and Mangan, Soto and wing Raekwon Caswell (LaSalle College High School, heading to Albright College) each had 4.  Mangan's 8 conversions made him Atlantis' leading points scorer with 36. Chris Minor and Aaron Gray were the Exiles' leading scorers on the weekend.

Game Videos may be found here:
G1 - Atlantis vs. Coventry ball in play  /  G2 - Atlantis vs. Maryland Exiles2 ball in play  /  G3 - Doylestown ball in play
SF - Atlantis vs. Carolina United / Final - Atlantis vs. Maryland Exiles1 ball in play

Atlantis tries in each game may be found here:
G1 - Atlantis TRIES vs. Coventry / G2 - Atlantis TRIES vs. Maryland Exiles2 / G3 - Atlantis TRIES vs Doylestown
SF - Atlantis TRIES vs. Carolina United / Final - Atlantis TRIES vs. Maryland Exiles1

Type	PF	Opponent	PA
Pool	53	Coventry (PA)	0
Pool	36	Maryland Exiles 2	5
Pool	22	Doylestown	12
Semifinal	19	Caroliina United	5
Final	19	Maryland Exiles 1	7
Total	149		29

Name	Tries	Conv.	Pts
Aeden Mangan	4	8	36
Ryan Maguire	6	0	30
Raekwon Caswell	4	0	20
Manny Soto	4	0	20
Tarik James	3	0	15
Jack Bradfield	1	4	13
Chris Curcio	2	0	10
Ryan Bradfield	1	0	5
Atlantis Total	25	12	149
Opponents Total	5	2	24

The top 10 teams at the conclusion of the event were

1. Atlantis
2. Maryland Exiles 1
3. NJ Blaze 1
4. Carolina United
5. Wilmington Colts
6. Doylestown
7. La Salle HS
8. St. Joseph Prep
9. Maryland Exiles 2
10. NJ Blaze 2

Other participants were Shanahan, West Chester (2 teams), Roman Catholic, Central Delaware and Coventry.