2023 Celtic 7’s
Albuquerque, NM
May 6, 2023 - DW
As in the last many years, the self-named New Mexico Brujos hosted the Celtic 7s tournament at Albuquerque’s Balloon Fiesta Park on Saturday, May 6. In a field of teams vastly reduced from the good old pre-Covid daze, Los Santos, with a little help from new friends and old, posted one win against two losses to slide into fourth place. Other clubs participating were Aardvarks, who beat El Paso in the final, Texas Tech, University of New Mexico, and hosts Brujos. In the battle of the collegiates, UNM scored last to outpoint Texas Tech 22-17.
On the women’s side the Atomic Sisters, fresh off their capture of the Southwest RFU championship last week in Scottsdale, eased to victory over University of New Mexico and New Mexico State U. In the collegiate matchup, the UNM ladies beat NMSU 38-17. (More on the Atomic Sisters below.)
For the Santos, sore and distracted by life after the long road to Scottsdale for two 40-minute matches in scorching Scottsdale, AZ the weekend before, the tournament presented a clear challenge, and a choice. After consulting with coach Morris and the captains, the club’s board of directors announced the rescheduling of the annual general meeting and board elections to May 20 so that the Santos could support the Brujos’ effort.
In the absence of veteran captain Ryan Weir, Santa Fe’s effort was led by co-captain Mateo Cardiel. Supremely capable and terminally optimistic, Mateo cheerfully led a small contingent of Santos forward, no doubt buoyed by the faith that the club’s storied resiliency (and good karma) would see the team through. As evidenced by the day’s photo collection, Mateo’s faith was rewarded as a good number of whores (including, perhaps significantly, three or four players from Texas Tech University) joined in to get us home. With an eye toward the future, we secured a contact for TTech’s “recruiting officer”, and continue to monitor the progress of that huge and agile young redhead from UNM. The TT contingent received SFRFC bumper stickers, and a handle on the Big Lobo is hereby requested.
The official Celtic 7s whiteboard recorded Santa Fe’s record thus: an opening 29-12 loss to Aardvarks; a 24-12 win over Texas Tech; second place vs. El Paso Scorpions 24-5; and a third place loss to the hosts by an unrecorded score.
With acknowledgment of those who traveled to Arizona last week- and those still a bit lame for the experience - the Santos worthies who represented SFRFC Saturday were:
Mateo Cardiel
John Bent
Jason Osborn
Jason España
Rainer Ball
Justin Stallworth
Dylan Merrigan
Ben Schlappi, traveling from Ouray, CO
Coaches Richard Morris and Eric Schmierer
(Reporter’s apologies for omissions.)
Thank you, men. You are what makes Santa Fe RFC what we are.
