On July 13, the Doylestown Rugby Academy high school boys team traveled to its final 7s tournament of the summer – Surfside 7s located just off the beach in Stone Harbor, N.J.
Surfside 7s is the premier tournament of the summer and always hosts the best teams. Doylestown fielded a very young team consisting of one eighth grader, six freshmen, six sophomores and no upper classmen.
Doylestown started the tournament against a very strong Conestoga side and found itself down 21-7 at halftime. The Dragons stormed back in the second half with a shutout to win the match 33-21. Doylestown then shut out La Salle College High School in the next pool match 33-0. Next up was a physically imposing Downingtown Rugby team in the semifinals. Doylestown also shut them out 22-0.
The championship match was played against a very experienced and skilled Bishop Shanahan Rugby team. Doylestown took a 7-0 lead into halftime in a first half in which neither team was willing to make a mistake. Bishop Shanahan battled back to tie the match 14-14 with virtually no time on the clock. Doylestown possessed the ball for many phases and covered about 60 meters of ground before scoring a try in the corner to close out the match with a 19-14 victory to claim the 2024 Boys High School Elite Surfside 7s championship.
The high school boys team finished out the summer with two tournament championships, a championship appearance and a semifinal appearance in the four tournaments it played in.
On June 29, the Doylestown Rugby Academy junior boys team (eighth to ninth grade) traveled to Elizabethtown for its final 7s tournament of the summer.
Doylestown won all its pool matches to set up a championship showdown with Coventry Rugby. Coventry raced out to a 12-0 halftime lead and the outcome was looking dire. Doylestown regrouped at halftime, made the necessary adjustments, and shut out Coventry in the second half to post a 14-12 victory to claim the championship trophy.
The Doylestown junior boys team won all three tournaments it played in this summer and did not drop a match.
Next up for both the junior and high school boys teams is the fall 7s circuit that will kick off in mid-September and culminate with the state championships in early November.
For more information about Doylestown Rugby Football Club, go to www.doylestownrugby.com.
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