NEW ORLEANS - The Franciscan Barons traveled to New Orleans for the May Madness National 7's Championship. The Baron ruggers went with a short roster of only 10 players due to injuries and player commitments. The players that made the trip down south were Rafe Lewis, Vincent Prezzia, Michael Hardy, Luke Hall, Michael Bohman, Anthony Chipps, Tom Toblemann, Clay Boyle, Bill Walsh, and Anthony Petitte. The game of 7's is played with 7 players to a side and two seven-minute halves which makes for a very fast and entertaining pace of rugby. Endurance and finesse are the key to being a successful 7's squad. They traveled by use of the school charter bus, leaving Wednesday, May 25th in the late afternoon and arriving in New Orleans Thursday May 26th in the evening. They took place in a stadium tour Friday morning at the Shrine on the Airline, which is where Major League Rugby's NOLA Gold team plays, but they had to find another place to train due to the fields being closed to keep the fields in top shape for the tournament weekend.

The Barons were in the Small Colleges Division, which had seven pools totaling 28 teams and slated in Pool F along with Virginia Military Institute, Hofstra, and Bryant. Each team would play the other once on Saturday, for a chance to move into the first round of 16, to be played on Sunday. The top 2 teams with the best record would qualify, with point differential being the tie breaker.

Things kicked off early Saturday morning with the Barons' first match against Virginia Military Institute (VMI). Going down 21-7 at the half, the Barons were able to tie up the score at 21 but would lose the match at the final whistle 28-21. Tries were scored by Rafe Lewis with two and Michael Bohman with one. Vince Prezzia would convert all three kicks.

The next match was against Bryant and after giving up a try and facing an early deficit, the Barons would tack on 31 points to win 31-12 and even up their record at 1-1.The Baron ruggers would show their mettle and see 5 different players score a try, showing versatility and reliance on each other. Lewis, Bohman, Anthony Chipps, Bill Walsh, and Mike Hardy would all dot down a try. Prezzia converted 3-5 kicks.

Their next game against 2-0 Hofstra would determine the Barons' fate. A win would give them a 2-1 record and tie them with Hofstra and give them the head to head win. A lost would relegate them to the consolation bracket and see their chances at a championship evaporate. VMI also sported a 1-1 record with their loss coming against Hofstra, which with a win vs Bryant, would also give them a 2-1 record. However, before that could be sorted out, the Barons had to take care of their own fate. Hofstra led things off with a try of their own. Before the half ended, Lewis made a dazzling play, showing off his skills, by kicking an up and over and outracing several Hofstra players to chase down the ball and corral it, and without breaking stride, raced to dot down the equalizer, tying the score at seven. The second half was more of the same with both teams moving the ball and finding opportunities to score. Hofstra again went up 14-7 on a try and conversion. That would be all they scored as Lewis scored another try with the conversion by Prezzia being unsuccessful to bring the Barons' score close to 14-12. Mike Hardy then scored a try in the waning moments of the match and it turned out to be the winning try, as the Barons prevailed 17-14. With the win, they finished their pool play at 2-1, tied with Hofstra. VMI would need to win against Bryant to also have a 2-1 record and create a three-way tie. In this scenario, due to point differential, Hofstra would have been the top team and the Barons would have been the 2nd team. This would determine seeding for the round of 16. However, in an upset of sorts Bryant would dominate VMI, giving the Barons the top spot due to their head to head win against Hofstra.

The Barons would secure the #7 seed in the First Round of 16 on Sunday. They would face a common opponent in John Carroll, the winners of the ARU 7's Championship. Six of the Barons' players would play every minute of each of the three matches which leads to the physical and mental exhaustion of each player, especially in 90+ degree temperatures. On Sunday morning, they looked to keep their winning streak alive against formidable foe, John Carroll. Both teams came out flat and reserved as each team had several miscues with passes and overall play. John Carroll would score first and convert their kick to give them a 7-0 lead. Prezzia would score before the half but missed the conversion and a chance to knot up the score at 7. With the Barons down 7-5 in the second half, they had several chances to score and take the lead but to no avail. John Carroll scored another try but missed the conversion, giving the Barons a chance to score and tie with a converted kick. As it turned out, the Barons simply couldn't make the plays to get the equalizer and would lose 12-5. The chances for a trip to the quarterfinals ended.

They would move on to the 5th place bracket and face Loyola Maryland. The players were physically drained but still managed to play hard and did not take a break. Loyola would score the first try but Mike Hardy leveled the score with a nifty try of his own, taking a pass and executing a spin move to break out of a tackle and raced down the sidelines for the try. Loyola scored again, but Hardy again took a pass and made two side stepping moves and outraced the defense for a 2nd try. The half ended with both teams tied at 14. Loyola scored once again and pushed their lead by five at 19-14. Lewis then answered the bell and scored a try but with a missed conversion, the score remained tied again at 19. Both teams would cycle the ball around but couldn't find the space to advance for a try. At the last minute, with time wounding down, Loyola was able to scored and make the conversion to give them a 26-19 lead and hand the Barons the loss.

The Barons had one more game to play, for a chance at redemption, however, Coach Adams decided to give his bench an opportunity at more playing time and the result showed as most of the starting players were drained. Unfortunately, they dropped the match to Central College 31-5. It was not what they hoped for but it was clear that the players were spent and the backups, while playing valiantly, were not able to keep up with the speed of the game. The Barons would finish 2-4 on the weekend and while some would call that a disappointment, Coach Jason Adams was impressed and proud of his team and the players for their commitment and never say die attitude. It wasn't the result that the Barons wanted, but with the short roster and inability to sub players to give guys a quick breather without sacrificing play on the field, it was a daunting task. They should be commended for giving it their all. The Barons will take a summer break and look towards the fall 15s season to get back to their winning ways.

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