By: Milton Greenstreet
The Severn River Men’s 7s 2023 season was odd and truncated in comparison to years past. The boys’ practices were relocated to the city of Annapolis, to give the home pitch in Manhattan Beach some much needed recovery time and TLC. Additionally, with the United Kingdom Tour looming large in August, the team’s brain trust decided a light 7s schedule was a wise choice.
The first tournament of the season was in Harrisburg, a familiar stomping ground for the SR 7s squad. Unfortunately, this would be the high-water mark of the season for the SR men. Nearly going 3-0 in pool play, Severn played outstandingly with an inexperienced group of rookies and forwards not normally tapped for 7s duty. Two big wins over Old Gaelic and Montgomery County Bucks, the third pool game was a tight loss to familiar foes Arbution Revolution. SR looked to go ahead in the dying minutes of the game through Isaiah Perry, but due to some issues with the field lining, this try was not awarded and Arbution claimed a narrow 14-12 victory. The 2-1 record was good enough to make the knockout round for the cup of the 22-team tournament. Severn drew South Jersey in the play-in round of the knockouts and this matchup would be their best showing of the day. South Jersey had size and experience, sporting a lineup of what looked to be full of tight 5 forwards, but the boys from Annapolis had the pace. They walloped South Jersey 36-0, with beautiful tries from prop Devin Nichols and scrumhalf Ryan Keaton. River’s reward for the thumping they gave Jersey was a date with #1 seed Lehigh Valley. Lehigh got the better of Severn, winning 25-12. LV would eventually fall in the cup final. The fellas comported themselves well against one of the favorites of the tournament, scoring tries on either side of halftime, keeping it close until LV scored a try in full time to close out the match. There were solid performances all day long from the guys in blue and green, and Nichols would take away Man of the Match for the day with standout play in his first 7s tournament.
The second tournament of the season came quickly after Harrisburg: Cheesesteak 7s hosted by Wilmington RFC. The day got off to an inauspicious start, with traffic causing a few of the boys to arrive right at kickoff against the Washington Irish. Severn lost a close one, 5-10 to the Irish. If you ask the boys, had they arrived on time, the scoreline would have read differently. The second matchup of the day was against Mark Dombrowski 15, a memorial side of Archmere Academy and St. Joseph’s University graduates put together to honor their former teammate that passed away several years prior. It was a tight matchup, with tempers flaring and some questionable calls. Severn looked to steal the win at the death, with a try by newcomer Adam Corder, which tied the score at 17. Adam’s conversion was a bit rushed and went wide, so the guys had to settle for a draw. The last matchup of the day was against Schuykill River II, which proved to be a rough draw for River. It was one way traffic with the eventual winners of the Open Division, Schuykill going up early and not looking back, the final score was 30-0. The tie against MD15 cost SR a trip to the knockout round, so the guys had a quick beer in the shade and went home early.
The last tournament on deck was Surfside Sevens in Stone Harbor, NJ. The guys had been dying to return to this tournament since their last trip in 2019, as it is well known to be one of the most fun tournaments in the Mid-Atlantic, given the high level of competition and oceanside pitches. As the UK tour was coming down the pipe, SR had a tough time getting bodies for the squad at the beach. The fellas only travelled with 9 players, which made for an uphill battle all day long. Playing against two local Jersey squads packed with numbers didn’t help. The first loss was against St. Augustine Alumni, 32-7, the sole bright spot coming from veterans Erik Dronberger and Milton Greenstreet combining for the only points in the game for River, fresh after parking at the tournament 30 seconds after the game had started. Beach traffic sucks. Along with having a light squad, River’s luck wasn’t any better with the draw. St. Augustine and Coventry (River’s second opponent) would go on to finish third and sixth in the 20-team tournament. The second match against Coventry was worse than the first, Severn going down 36-0. The last game of the day for River was against Morris NJ Rugby for seventeenth place. The brass of the 7s team decided, with no injuries yet for the skeleton squad and fun times in Wildwood to be had that evening, they would challenge Morris to a friendly boat race to decide the 17 th place match. It was a tight one, but Severn pulled it out at the end, with boatrace stalwart Mike “Butters” Gibson coming through in the clutch to give SR their first win of the day. The guys would retire to their AirBnB in Wildwood after the tournament and do their very best to win the party at the beach that night. Drinks were drunk. Dances were danced. Fun was had. The boys will be returning to Surfside 7s with a full complement of players soon, way too much fun, even with the losses.
In keeping with the odd 7s season, the 7s awards have not been announced as of yet and will be given out in a small ceremony at the Legion in the coming weeks. Even though the season wasn’t full of wins for Severn, it was still a great year to get some young guys experience and have some forwards working on their ball skills and back play. The boys in green and blue will return in Summer 2024 with a vengeance.
2023 Most Valuable Player – Taylor Gavigan
2023 Wave King – Mike Divver
Best Forward 7s Debut – Devin Nichols
2023 Top Try Scorer – Jake Sandruck
2023 Rookie(s) of the Year – Johny Huynh and Ryan Keaton