Delmarva Rugby Club pulled out a hard-fought win over Second City Troop Rugby Club to win the inaugural Son of a Beach Tournament May 17 at Rehoboth Elementary School.
Both teams won their first two games against the Philly Griffins and the DC Scandals, setting up an evenly matched final.
Second City opened the scoring with a penalty kick at the 10-minute mark after Delmarva defended its goal line for an extended period. Eight minutes later, Delmarva's Joe McMillan was successful on a 40-meter kick from the sideline to even the score at 3-3. Second City was able to score late in the first half off a penalty deep in Delmarva's territory. They converted the kick for a 10-3 halftime lead.
The second half was a back-and-forth battle. After several minutes, Delmarva drove the ball deep into Second City's territory and Mike Venero was able to carry the ball in from 8 meters out. A converted kick tied the match at 10-10.
The game then turned into a back-and-forth battle of possession, with both teams holding then losing the ball. It was only a matter of time before one of the sides was able to keep the ball and create a scoring opportunity. Second City was that team. They held the ball for several phases of play and brought the ball very deep into Delmarva territory. After a hard-fought few minutes at the goal line, Second City punched the ball over the line for a try. They were unable to convert the points after and led the game by 15-10 with about 10 minutes remaining.
The missed kick would prove to be important when Cory Hardin was able to spring Sammy Mohr loose for a long try. The converted kick made the score 17-15 in Delmarva's favor.
Second City had one more offensive attack left. After a few exchanges of possession, they settled down and began driving toward the go-ahead try. With less than a minute to go, they found themselves on the 10-meter line and began to pound the ball toward the try line. On the sixth attempt, they were met by Joe Baker and Scott McMillan, who denied them one last time. The ball became unplayable at the bottom of the pile, and the referee blew his whistle to end the game.