July 25th-27th, 2008

Asheville, NC

High Country A brought a very tough side to the Belle Chere 7's tournament with aspirations of winning it all. There were 16 total teams, broken into four divisions. The playoffs were set up so the four best teams played for the Cup trophy, the next four for the Plate trophy, and the next 4 for the Bowl trophy. Gabe, Leon and Reid comprised the front row (Harley saw some playing time as well), and the backs were Benji to Patrick Flaherty, Troy and Roddy (Pretty Mitch saw some action as well, though his Achilles heel probably will not let him play again until 2013). The first game High Country A flattened N. C. State 50 - 0. Pretty much everyone scored as the team sweated out the previous night's alcohol. The second game was against an extremely physical division I collegiate team that made sure High Country felt the game the next day. High Country won 7-5 thanks to the opponent’s stout defense and High Country's inability to click on offense. High Country's last pool game was against Asheville's men's team. Again, High Country clicked at all phases and ran past their opponents 28 - 0. Tries were had by Roddy, Gabe, Benji and others. Leon's well placed kickoffs allowed Reid and Troy to cause havoc for the opposing side, never letting them feel comfortable.
After finishing 3 - 0 in their pool, High Country A was seeded number 1 of the 4 teams in the top playoff bracket for the Cup. Unfortunately, the fourth seeded team was arguably the only team in the tourney who likely could, and in fact did, beat High Country A. The game was hotly contested and tied 7 - 7 at the half. Besides the one try, every time High Country came close to scoring, they ended up just short of the try line from either self-imposed mistakes or good defensive efforts. The game ended 19 - 7 with the opponents scoring a last second try to make the game seem not as close as it was. After beating High Country A, they went on to beat their opponents in the final game 35 - 7. The fact that they told us we were their hardest competition all day did little to ease the pain of coming so close to winning it all.
As far as non-playing shenanigans are concerned, I (Troy) personally know that Gabe and I probably should not have jumped of the first floor balcony into the hotel pool. I blame on poor architectural design. Aside from that, I am relatively certain, though I can't say for sure because of a lack of memory, that a good time was had by all. I do recall we saw P-Funk, and hey, that's not a bad weekend.

-Troy