MRFC Opens Fall 2010 With a Gritty Win!

September 11th, 2010: The kickoff to the season was a wet and wild one characterized by hard hits, sloppy passes and a fight to the finish. With the rainy conditions it seemed that the game would be a slow, hard-hitting affair. The first half proved to be anything but - the Banshees controlled the ball and used the possession to score first off a 5-meter scrum. Their center knifed through our defense to score center post and inspired MRFC to counter with some offense of its own. The next 15 minutes saw lock Jake Gottfried and prop Cole Coopman capitalize with tries of their own after multiple phases of play. The offensive onslaught continued despite sloppy ball handling (the ball kept bouncing MRFCs way) with winger Jason Talbot utltimately scoring for MRFC's third try of the day. MRFC took a final penalty running, after 3 phases back and forth across the field, winger Josh Kraemer broke the line, was tackled at the 5 meter line with fullback Mike Albert in support to clean up the ball and touch down MRFC's 4th try as time expired. Halftime score 26-7.

The second period started with adjustments from Coach Tom Beckman and an emphasis on countering the sloppiness of the conditions and first half play with more possession and less long passes. MRFC took immediate control winning their own kickoff but while trying to exploit an overload, the Banshee fullback picked off an MRFC pass and took it the distance for the score. A period of back and forth was broken by MRFC winger Josh Kraemer breaking a long run for the 5th team try of the day. This would prove to be the final try for MRFC. A lot of hard hitting took over and MRFC's conditioning waned in the final 20 minutes as they surrendered another 2 tries. The game ended with a lot of defense for MRFC and they escaped with a 31-27 victory.

Recap:
It was great to get the win but we have a lot of work to do. Tackling, committing to the loose pieces, and conditioning were big issues for our squad. It is fortunate that we have so many athletes on the team, otherwise this game might have gone a different direction.

Notables:
Alex McCray was Man of the Match. Put the workload of tackling and rucking on his shoulders and carried the team.

Adam "Kos" Kosidowski made 3 of 5 conversions despite horrible conditions that ultimately proved the winning difference!

Milwaukee RFC Boasts Two 2nd Place Finishes at Lakefront 7s!

July 2010: It was a proud day for Milwaukee RFC as both the Qualifer and Open sides took home 2nd in their respective divisions. Most importantly, the RFC earned a $500 check for their final appearance and a berth in the Elite Division of USA 7s to be held in Las Vegas in February 2011!

In the matches leading up to the championship the team gelled with solid wins over Traverse City 47-7, Northwestern 35-5, and 17-3 over a Louisville featuring several Eagles. The strength of the pool play victories earned the club the #1 seed going into the playoffs. (#1 MRFC, #2 Youngbloodz, #3 Lions, #4 Dayton).

A 19-5 semifinal win over Dayton paved the way for a Championship rematch of both the Firehouse 7s and 2009 Lakefront 7s finals against a familiar 7s foe: the Chicago Lions. MRFC gave up 2 early tries and ultimately lost a nailbiter 19-12 in front of the hometown crowd; the club maintains first place in the Midwest 7s standings.

The Open competitive side also had a strong showing with pool play victories: 29-5 win over Illinois Tornados (a U-19 All-Star team), 42-5 win over Marquette, 19-3 win over CARFU (a collegiate select side).

MRFC got the #2 seed for the playoffs behind the C-Side C-Men and kicked off against Fond du Lac in the semis leading to a 24-21 win and a matchup with the C-Men for the finals. A tough match ensued against the men from Iowa ..... MRFC held the lead until the final minutes when the C-Men dotted down what appeared to be a knock on for the go-ahead try and a 19-17 loss for Milwaukee.