The Eastern Suburbs were greeted in Grand Rapids, MI by foul weather as they took to the pitch on Saturday to face the Lexington Blackstones for the Midwest Championships. As thunderstorms threatened, the Suburbs started out slowly as Lexington went up 5-0 in the opening minutes. After ~ 15 min of play, lightning and torrential rains forced the match to be postponed for nearly 2 hrs until the storms passed. Storms still threatened and there was urgency to finish the match by referees and officials. The decision was made to eliminate half-time and thus play continuously for 65 min. After a quick warm-up the Suburbs were back in action as the Suburbs regained control and score was tied up 5-5 after quick phase play following a penalty inside the 22 m that had Lexington on their heels. The suburbs went up 10-5 on a try from…… which was followed by a penalty kick from Lexington 10-8. Lexington executed their kicking game which kept us pinned inside our own 22m late in the second half. A questionable penalty on a 5m scrum gave Lexington the final advantage as they kicked for points to put them up 10-11 with only seconds remaining to seal the game.

Surprisingly, the suburbs learned that the Bremer County Bucks, the winning team in the opposing bracket who was scheduled to play Lexington for top seeding at nationals, had elected to forfeit their bid to the nationals due to lack of players able to travel. This created a unique opportunity for the Suburbs which allowed the consolation match to serve as a qualifying game for the second Midwest seed to nationals. The following day the Suburbs met the Fox City Gargoyles in a mud bowl as a result of continued rain and poor field conditions from the previous day. With a chip on their shoulder and anxious to prove they belonged in the nationals the suburbs came out strong as nearly 10 trys were scored and held the gargoyles scoreless for the majority of the game. The final was 62-5.