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West Chester Rebounds to Win Boys Open Surfside

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West Chester Rebounds to Win Boys Open Surfside

The West Chester team

The West Chester Boys team out of Pennsylvania rebounded from an opening loss to win four games in a row and take the Surfside 7s American High School 7s Championships Boys Open Division Sunday.

West Chester opened the tournament on Saturday with a 27-7 loss to Conestoga before ending pool play with 33-0 shutouts of Roman Catholic and Coventry.

On Sunday, West Chester edged previously unbeaten State Island to make the final, where they met Conestoga once more, and this time won 24-14.

“The guys just never quit,” said Coach Lou Raymond. "They showed so much heart."

The West Chester Wolf Pack is made up of players from the three schools in the West Chester, Pa., school district. The team has had its successes – their 15s team was 5-1 in conference play this past spring.

“We have a small team, most of the players are around 150 pounds,” said Raymond. “But most of them are wrestlers, and they know how to tackle. They are relentless and are good in contact and can ruck. Then we’re blessed with four or five pretty speedy players. We get the ball to them, we do OK.”

Committing to defense and teamwork turned the games around for West Chester, and with a young, aggressive outfit led by James Jaques, Dan Brown, and speedster Jake Rice, kept the competition on their heels and earned them the championship.

Jacques and Brown were co-captains, and the rest of the West Chester squad is: Jake Rice, Jack Kilgallen, Liam Brown, Pat McCafferty, Tyler Paschal, Mike Salloum, Cole Seaman, Lake Johnson, and Pierre Thibert

“We love coming to Surfside; we come here every year,” said Raymond. “It’s great competition and really well-run. And I’m really proud of the boys.”

And watch out for next year, as West Chester graduates only two players from this 7s team.