Bombers Win St. Louis Sevens

The Bombers claimed first place at the St. Louis Langenberg Sevens Tournament held July 31 in Forest Park on a typically hot and muggy day. The Black side won their morning pool matches and advanced to the quarterfinals as the #1 seed. After routing the Columbia Outlaws in the quarterfinal, the Black side dispatched Springfield 40-5 to earn a place in the finals against cross-state rivals KC Blues, who defeated the Ramblers 28-14 in the other semi. The finals saw the Bomber Blacks score early and often to win going away over a frustrated Blues team 29-7 to take home the hardware and the winner's check.

The Black side contained a mixture of experience and youth, with veteran Rene Monette orchestrating the attack. Newcomers T. J. Ebner and Minnow Gillenwater saw plenty of ball and thrilled the crowd with numerous tries. Lock Hayden Mexted scored a brilliant chip and chase try and assisted on many more. Veterans Steve Bosse, Brian Meyer and Tommy Wong made good decisions all day. Shaun Tegethoff, David Samples, Zach Giljum and Jesus McPheeters provided quality depth to an exciting team.

The White side also participated, bowing out in the quarterfinals to a very good Springfield side in a close match. The Whites narrowly lost 20-12 to the KC Blues and then demolished Columbia in morning pool play to take the #5 seed into the quarterfinals. The Whites were paced by youngsters Tony Gibaurdo, Eric Hanson, Keith Suma, Ryan Banta, Andy Entwistle, Guppie Gillenwater and Ben Schwab. Veterans John McBride, Scott Lay, John Watson, Julius Mingala and Alan from Cape gave steady performances.

Spotted among the huge crowd cheering the Bombers to victory were alumni Earl Langhorst, Sterling Hayden, Vic Miller, Jonathan Grace and his family, Cliff Schlereth and many more. It was great to see Jeff and Mary Ann Hartwig (the parents of the late, great Young Dan) in attendance as well as Sara Crosby and her mother.