1997 Reno Rumble

Note: The Seattle Slam was known as the All Night back in the day...

7AM's Dean MacCabe wins the tip against Quake 2's Dave TorrecellasFor seven years, the Quickie Reno Rumble has been known for teams going there to have fun and play Rugby. The field has generally been less competitive than most tournaments.

However, this year was an exception. The Tournament favorite was the top seeded 7 A.M. team which was a compilation of Shadow players and Casa Colina's squad. The southern Californians, who won the tournament last year easily despite loose curfew rules, took on a new name of 7 A.M., as in their curfew.

Coincidentally, their first opponent was team All Night, named after A Seattle-based chair company. All Night was not seeded in the top four but, with the recent addition of Canadian star 3.5 Garret Hickling, they became instant contenders. Seattle featured a line up of Hickling, another high pointer in Gary Kanazawa 3.0 plus low pointers Clark Landis .5 and Mike Wagner class 1.0 from the USA team that competed in the Oceana Zone last summer.

All Night Garret Hinkling (right) smokes past Steve Pate

The game started with both clubs pressing furiously. 7 A.M. took an early two goal lead. All Night fought back to tie the game at 8-8 with only 14 seconds left. 7 A.M. broke the All Night press as Troy McGuirk hit his Shadow teammate, Dan McCauley, with a long pass. McCauley went in for the go ahead goal, leaving only two seconds on the clock.

Team 7 A.M. built a three-goal advantage during the second period. All Night cut the margin to two with 11.8 seconds left in the half. This was still enough time for the Southern Californians to score as Dean MacCabe scored the last goal to lead 18-15 at half time. MacCabe continued to score the bulk of 7 A.M.'s goal, as he tallied 11 straight goals before teammate McGuirk scored, ending the string.

7 A.M. was able to shuffle people in from the bench as they took a six goal advantage into the final period. All Night would use the same four players for the duration of the contest. 7 A.M. went on to defeat All Night, 42-36, which eliminated them from any championship hopes since there were no cross-over games.

Spokane's Dukes had no trouble with Portland in a 34-19 win. San Jose Quake, soon to become the Raiders, brought two squads and both fared well as Quake 2 easily handled the host team from Reno. Quake 1 and Utah engaged in what might be the most offensive game in Rugby history. The two teams combined for a whopping 108 goals with Quake scoring 62 of them.

Quake 2 and All Night opened Saturday's schedule. A strong effort by Quake 2 fell short as they lost 31-39. The most notable game of the day was between Quake 1 and the Dukes of St. Lukes Spokans Steve Pate is swarmed by the All Night crowd (Spokane). Quake 1 was without 3.5 Brian Hansen and had 1.5 player Chet Miller re-classed through a protest that made him a 2.0. How would they be able to compete against the likes of behemoth Steve Pate and rising star, class 2.0 Chad Farrington? They were not able to keep pace in the beginning as the Dukes took an early six-goal lead off a relentless press. Spokane elected to go to their bench to give Pate a breather. Pate welcomed the rest as he was battling a bout with bronchitis during the weekend. Class 3.0 Mark Whatson and 2.5 Al Seals came in to relieve Pate and Chet Savage a new class 2.0.

Spokane's bench couldn't hold off the Quake as they were able to produce turnovers, goals, and forced the Duke's to use time outs. As Quake closed the gap Pate and Savage were brought back in. Quake was now in groove and breaking the Dukes press. Quake managed to take a 4th period lead as Farrington, who had been in the whole time, showed signs of fatigue as did Pate as time was running out. Quake now had all the momentum as they went up by four with little time left. Class 3.0 Enrique Madrinan and class 2.0 Rick Mason's steady play led the comeback effort. Spokane managed two quick scores to pull within two but time would run out on the Dukes as they fell to Quake 1 by a final of 39-37.

The Utah Extreme won their first game by topping Portland, 42-38, in a game that they controlled the whole way. This marked the end of pool play and set up Sunday's final placing games. Portland was able to earn their first win in the 7th & 8th place game. Class 3.0 Lynn Nelson led the Quad Cannibals in their victory over the Reno Crush. Quake 2 and Utah had a close battle but Quake 2 eventually put them away, 32-28, for a fifth place finish.

In the 3rd & 4th place game, All Night and Spokane would lock chairs. The first half of action was very close as only two goals separated the two teams, with All Night on top 23-21. Spokane went to their bench at the start of the third period. All Night totally exploited the Dukes without Pate to go on an 8-2 run which put them ahead 31-23. The Dukes never recovered as All Night, who might have been the second best team won, 42-33.

The title game outcome was quite predictable as Reno odds makers made 7 A.M. a 15 1/2 goal favorite. They managed to cover that with a half point to spare by defeating Quake 1, 54-38. Quake 2 was happy to make it to the finals with the adversity they were faced with. When tournament MVP, Enrique Madrinan was asked about what it was like to play against former teammate Steve Pate, he replied, "It was fun because he is such a great competitor and a great guy. Its nice to have him back in our sport." Photo's courtesy of Quad Rugby Today

Reno Rumble Results

Sundays final placing games
7th/8th - Portland 37 Reno 25
5th/6th - Quake 2 32 Utah 28
3rd/4th - All Night 42 Dukes 33
1st/2nd - 7 A.M. 54 Quake 1 38

All Tourney Team
Neil Gustafson - Dukes
Mike Wagner - All Night
Bob Martinson - 7 A.M.
Chad Farrington - Dukes
Dean MacCabe - 7 A.M.
Gary Kanazawa - All Night
Steve Pate - Dukes
MVP Enrique Madrinan - Quake 1

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