ST. LOUIS, MO – After a fairly successful first Division I 7s tournament in Oklahoma coming in third place, the Principia Thunder Chickens went into their next tournament in St. Louis with confidence, knowing that they can compete at this level. These spring tournaments are a series within the Big Rivers conference, and in order to qualify for Nationals, the Thunder Chickens must have consistently strong showings throughout the series.
The St. Louis tournament was played in bitterly cold and windy conditions at Forest Park. Ten teams were divided into two pools, and Principia was drawn with Iowa Central CC, Aquinas, Trine and Thomas More 'B'.
Principia was able to beat Iowa Central quite convincingly 21-5, but Aquinas gave the Thunder Chickens a more even contest. After Principia took an early lead, Aquinas fought back in the second half to get within a try, but the Thunder Chickens held on for 19-12 victory. Principia won their third contest 35-10 as Trine was no match for the Thunder Chickens, and Thomas More 'B' decided to forfeit due to a string of injuries on the day. This meant that Principia finished pool play as the number 1 seed at 4-0, which earned them a place in the finals against the winner of the other pool, Thomas More 'A'.
The Thunder Chickens vs Saints finals matchup was a very tight affair as Principia started strong by scoring the first two tries to go up 10-0. On the last play of the first half, Thomas More was able to break through with a try and conversion to close the gap to 10-7. Principia scored first in the second half to move the lead out to 15-7, but the Saints answered with another try and conversion to cut Principia's lead to 15-14 with not much time left on the clock. After a short possession for the Thunder Chickens, Thomas More was able to win possession within the Principia half. After multiple phases, the Saints scored the tournament-winning score on the last play of the match.
Despite the heartbreaking loss in the final, Principia performed far above expectations for this tournament considering that four of the Thunder Chickens' starters from the Oklahoma tournament were unable to participate in St. Louis. Both Fran Alessio and Damilola Odunuga led the team with distinction in the absence of regular captain, Damir Conci, who is away playing with the Croatian National Team.
"Seeing the players come into the team and perform the way they did, was remarkable considering how little rugby experience some of them have," said Coach Kellerman afterwards. "Clearly confidence is contagious, and it is spreading through our rugby program."
The final stop in the Big Rivers 7s Series is at Adrian College in Michigan on April 15th. Now with second and third place finishes under their belts, the Thunder Chickens will look for another strong result in their quest to qualify for D1 Nationals.
