The weekend of June 20th Highcountry Rugby sent out the B-side All-Stars led by fearless captain Andrew Brown to the Columbus Cruise-a-matics 7’s Tournament. The first night saw Karl, Andrew, Cory, and Fudger drinking beers on the Columbus pitch as a warm-up to the tournament. Besides having mosquitoes the size of birds, the pitch provided all that was necessary for a Highcountry player to camp: an old porta-potty, plenty of space, and a hose. As a side note, Cory locked his keys in his truck and almost got stuck going through the
back window. Saturday morning was the beginning of the Tourney and things got off to a rough start. Fifteen minutes before kick-off the Highcountry Rugby squad was a few players short of a side, but luckily they did have a combined 3 months of sevens experience under their belts. Embarrassment was staved off when Renegades Luke, Mario, Roddy, and JD
joined Andrew, Karl, Fudger, Cory, Private Pyle, and Evan to make a full side. With barely enough time to get boots on, we were on the pitch to face new nemesis Montgomery. This game was not pretty. The first kick-off consisted of Tiny catching the ball, stiff arming Karl in the face, side stepping Andrew and running for the unassisted try. This would happen two more times. Nevertheless, the second half was a little better as the Highcountry side managed to make the game more respectable with a try of their own. The final score 21-5. The second match was against Georgia Southern University. Another loss, but the officiating was the worse most have ever seen. At one point a GSU player was tackled and army-crawled into the try zone for the score. The highlight was a near decapitation of a GSU player by Evan with a true horse collar tackle. After the infraction, said player in a sign of good sportsmanship or fear graciously helped Evan up. The same player then was almost killed by a Karl blind side tackle as he refused to place the ball down in the try zone after a score. Words of wisdom were exchanged and the game went on. Highcountry again found
their groove in the second half and managed a few tries.

After the second loss, spirits were lifted when Pat Flaherty and Tony Karamitas came to add much needed energy, skill, and experience to the young HC team. The next game was against Columbus and was dominated by the Highcountry squad. There were many highlights, but most involved Flaherty chipping the ball over the Columbus side for long self-assisted tries. He was easily the MVP of the match. The final match was against Panama City who were surprisingly not sponsored by Club la
Vila. The HC team also dominated this match. The highlight of the game and the tourney involved great team play by perennial water boys Karl and Fudger. After sighting a loose ball by the sideline, Fudger chips it over the head of two Panama City players, picks the ball up off the ground running and marches down the field for 30 yards. Recognizing the fitness level of the ball carrier, Karl maintained support to the
left. Fudger initiates contact with the sweeper, evades his initial contact, knocks him down and sends a perfect pass to Karl. Karl then sends his usual wobbly duck pass to Renegade JD in the middle of the field that then sends a quick pass to Roddy. Roddy then scores his sixth try of the match as no one can keep up with his speed. Other highlights included improved play by Private Pyle and his 12 penalties. The Tournament ended with hours of drinking free RAF beer and the drink-up at Buffalo Wild Wings.