Quins Place 3rd at Denver West Qualifier
The Dallas Harlequins 7's team claimed 3rd place at the 2nd Qualifier tournament of the year to move into striking distance of qualifying for Nationals in Aug. Despite a heat index of over 100+ on the playing surface (synthetic grass) at the new Dick Sporting Goods Complex in Denver the boys posted an impressive 3-1 record in round-robin play which moved them into the championship round.
Results of Round Robin Play
Quins 22 - Queen City 10: After coming out of the gates flat and giving up a early try the Quins settled down and slowly pulled away form a very large and physical Queen City side. The downside of the win was we lost 1 player due to injury in the 1st 2 minutes reducing our roster down from 12 to 11 for the rest of the day.
Quins 21 - Denver B 14: In a very close back and forth match against a surprisingly talented Denver B side the Quins posted 2 trys in the 2nd half to claim the victory over the host Denver Barbo's.
Quins 0 - Aspen 24: The score might look loop sided but the match wasn't. Despite the fact the Quins defense wasn't firing on all cylinders by allowing 4 try's, the real disappointment was the 3 miscues which would of resulted in try's for the Quins and making the contest a little more interesting.
Quins 21 - Elite 5: In the last game of pool play the Quins faced the #1 seed Woodland Elite in a must win game for each team to advance to the championship round. After Elite had lost 2 straight games to Aspen and Denver B, a win would put them in a tie with the Quins in pool play for 2nd place but would advance over the Quins due to the tie breaker rules. For the Quins, it was plan an simple: Win and advance or lose and mathematically be eliminated from any chance of qualifying for Nationals. After giving up an early try to the Elite team, the Quins took charge. The next 12 minutes belonged to the boys in green and black. With a steady pressure defense and a quick attacking offense the Quins put 3 straight trys on the board to claim the prize and advance on to the championship round and stay alive in the quest for a birth to the National Finals.
Semi-Finals
Quins 0 - Denver 24: The Quins faced the eventual tournament Champs Denver A in the first semi-final of the day which resulted in a disappointing lose. Although the Quins played with a lot of heart, I felt the lose was caused by the lack of fitness.
Consolation Final
Quins 5 - South Selects 28: The last match of the day the Quins faced the South Select Side visitors from the Florida area. Does the expression "The Tanks were Empty" mean anything? With the combination of the heat, altitude and 6th game of the day the Quins simply didn't have enough gas to get the job done. The boys from the the South wore down the Quins to take the win. However, since the South isn't a team form the West they automatically weren't eligible for points, therefore giving the Quins a 3rd place finish on the day.
Summary
Overall I felt the team made huge improvements since the Austin Tournament 2 weeks ago. On Offense we spread the ball better, creating more opportunities to attack and the support play on the ball was the biggest improvement of them all. The defense alignment was 10x better than Austin and one up tackling was better but still needs some work.
With the 3rd place finish, it positioned the Quins in 4th place in the West, just 1 point behind Aspen A Semi-final appearance in Kansas City would lock the Quins into the 3rd and final spot for the West giving them a birth to the National Championship.
There is a lot of hard work to be done over the next 2 weeks to prepare for Kansas City but I feel the Quins are up to the challenge. I wanted to personally thank the boys who made the commitment to make the trip to Denver and look forward to Kansas City .
Denver Qualifier Team
Ashmead, Mike
Boyd, Justin
Craig, Matt
Duke, Ryan
Jarvis, Gregg
Kiefer, Cole
Marshall, Andrew
Rodgers, Blake
Sieffert, Chris
Vaughn, Jarred
West, Drew
West, Kaleb
Gregg Jarvis
Dallas Harlequins 7's Coach
