photo courtesy Doug McSchooler / The Indianapolis Star

The new season kicked off last weekend, for most of the Heartland, at the Fall Brawl of the Midwest Tournament. It was held at Ben Davis High School in Indianapolis, IN and hosted by the RHI Indy Brawlers. The tournament highlighted perennial favorites and some up and coming teams. Several new players were just getting their first taste of the great sport of quad rugby. The Brawl featured teams from the Heartland section including: Kentucky TNT, St. Louis Rams, Michigan Storm, Minnesota North Stars, Chicago Bears, Milwaukee Iron, Ohio Blitz, and RHI Indy Brawlers.

The early games on Saturday held true to the seeding, despite some teams coping with the loss of key players and/or breaking in new, inexperienced players. In the second round of games, the scores were closer and still competitive, but top seeds managed to come away with nearly all the “W’s”. The third set of games featured a match-up between #2 seeded Minnesota and #5 seeded RHI Indy Brawlers. This game started with teams trading goal for goal, with no bigger advantage than three goals at any point. This kept up through the 4th quarter with 23 seconds left, as the Brawlers took a one goal lead. Just as the ball was about to be inbounded, there was a “leaving the court” violation on one of the Brawlers as they dropped back in the key. Minnesota took the advantage and scored as time expired. Overtime had the teams trading goals, just as in regulation play. Finally, the Brawlers managed to get the ball to a wide open Brad Partin for the score of what would be the winning goal, as Minnesota did not have enough time to tie the score. Both teams left everything on the court and were exhausted both physically and emotionally by the end of the game. However; both teams, as well as the fans, loved every minute of the game.

Sunday’s cross-over games started off similar to the previous day’s games, as the higher seeds kept on their winning ways. Now, match ups were set for final tournament placing. The first group of placing games had Minnesota winning over Ohio for 5th place. The other game was between Chicago and Milwaukee for 7th and 8th place. This provided the tournament with its other close nail biting overtime game. Late in the 4th quarter, it looked like Chicago had the game sealed up, but Milwaukee made a key pick up and scored before time expired forcing overtime. In overtime, both teams traded goals, but a couple key defensive stops by Chicago led to them edging out a hard fought win over Milwaukee for 7th place.

Next up were the two games to decide the top four spots for the tournament and who would carry away the hardware. TNT battled the St. Louis team to decide the overall winner. Early in the game, TNT jumped out to a 10 goal lead, but the Rams from St. Louis battled back and made it respectable. It was a great game between two teams of skilled veteran players. The early lead was just not something the St. Louis team could overcome as TNT took home the overall tournament win and 1st place honors. The other two o’clock game pitted Michigan against the Indy Brawlers. The winner would take home the 3rd place trophy. These two teams started out trading goals, but some miscues by Indy and pressure defense by Michigan led to a comfortable Michigan lead. Indy fought hard to get back in the game, but they could not overcome the early deficit. Michigan ended up with the win and the 3rd place tournament finish.

This was an early season tournament, but a good indication that the Heartland has some good rugby in its future. As some teams take a few steps back, others have made huge strides in rebuilding and are looking to be forces in the near future and into post-season. The 2009-2010 season certainly promises to be interesting… Be ready for anything to happen, because it just might!

Fall Brawl 2009 Results:
1st    TNT
2nd     St. Louis
3rd     Michigan
4th     Indy
5th     Minnesota
6th     Ohio
7th     Chicago
8th     Milwaukee

Individuals Awards:
Lock Monster-Best Picker:        Chris Madden
Speed Demon-‘Nuff Said:        Emily Shryock
Spoke Buster-Hardest Hitter:    Chuck Melton
Brawler Award-Best All-Around:    Nick Fonner