THOROFARE, NJ—Nearly 80 quadriplegic wheelchair rugby players met at the Riverwinds Community Center in New Jersey to compete in this year’s edition of the Beast of the East Quad Rugby Tournament.  The tournament, which took place on November 21 and 22, was hosted by the Magee Eagles and featured a total of 8 teams that spanned the Atlantic coastline.  It took an incredible 22 tournament games to decide the victors, with the first place trophy going to the Philadelphia-based Magee Eagles “A” who gritted out the grueling two-day event, beating second-place finishers, Raleigh Sidewinders, by a final of 51-45.

            The tournament began on Saturday morning, with teams from Pool A—the Raleigh Sidewinders, the Connecticut Jammers, D.C.’s Capitol Punishers, and Philadelphia-based Magee Eagles “A”—competing in the day’s first set of games.  The Pool B teams, which included the New York Warriors, the ECC Cripplers, the Pittsburgh Steelwheelers, and the Magee Eagles “B,” played next.  Saturday featured a total of 13 games, including one exhibition Rookies game, and found the Sidewinders and the Cripplers atop their respective Pools.  

            The action continued Sunday with the 1-through-4 seeds in each Pool playing to decide who would face off in the championship game, and included a triple-overtime thriller between the New York Warriors and the Capitol Punishers in which the Warriors triumphed, 62-61.  The title game, however, came down to the Magee Eagles “A” and the Raleigh Sidewinders.  Led by the ear-popping hits and hard-charging runs by Tournament Most Valuable Player Rob Deller, the Magee Eagles “A” amassed an early lead and never relinquished it, taking first place and the tournament championship, 51-45.

            Deller won the richly deserved MVP Award for his efforts.  Other standouts included Brian Yarrusso and Ben Baker of the Magee Eagles “A,” AJ Nanayakkara, Eric Anderson, and Keith Newerla of the Magee Eagles “B,” Mike Herndon of the Raleigh Sidewinders, and Will Kornegay of the Connecticut Jammers, all of whom were named to the Beast of the East All-Tournament Team.  The Sportsmanship Award was given to the Steelwheeler’s Katie Smith, and the Bayada Nurses were the recipients of the Spirit of the Game Award.

            The Philadelphia contingent/teams dominated the event, with one of their teams taking the title and 5 Philly players named to the 7 All-Tournament roster spots. 

            The 19^th Annual Beast of the East Tournament was hosted by the Magee Eagles and could not have been made possible without the participation and generous contributions of Magee Rehabilitation, the Christopher and Dana Reeve Foundation, the Life Rolls On Foundation, the Challenged Athletes Foundation, Wawa, and the Philadelphia Regional Produce Market.