The Utah Lions 7s team came away from the Denver 7s with some big wins and one of their first real tests a character this last weekend on 21 June. The Lions expected some strong competition and were not disappointed. The strongest team being the Littleton Eagles in the pool matches. A physically imposing and skilled side, the Eagles quickly took a 12-0 lead over the Lions by the half leveraging their speed and physicality to overpower Lions who had come off a very easy 57-0 win over the Central Terrors.  This was the first time the Lions had been faced with the task of digging deep and coming back from what, in all appearances, was going to be a loss. With a couple of key substitutions, The Lions began to fight back scoring two twice in rapid fashion by Colton Swapp ( Summit Academy) and Aleni Aiono ( Wasatch of Murray) with both conversions slotted by Darian Power (United). On a quick note, Darien had missed only 2 conversions over the entire weekend and is 35 of 37 for 2o14 so far with the Lions. Littleton was also able to put another unconverted try on the board as the clock was ticking down to put the score at 17-14 with a little over 1 minute left. Summoning all their training, strength, and the character we require as a part of the Lions team, the boys began a remarkable attack against the Littleton Eagles. The ball movement and recycling was incredible with such quick, rapid and precise movements between the touch lines that the Eagles were forced to spread to counter the attack until a weakness was seen and exploited by Tanu Aupiu (United). Playing the outside, Tanu was able to break the corner and streak down the sideline towards the try line, an Eagle defender streaking to take him into touch. As he pulled that defender in and absorbed the initial contact, Tanu was able to offload the ball as he was being tackled into touch to David Montoya (Highland) who finished the run off with a try about 15m from center. Darian, who has been rock solid, slotted the kick with no time left to put the Lions over the Eagles, 21-17.

Their character and skills tested, a team of proud Eagles continued to win game after game, only allowing a total of 5 more points against them, as the moved into the Dicks Sporting Goods Stadium for the final game against East High School of Denver, CO. where they soundly defeated them 40-0.

The Lions are now headed to their toughest tournament to date, the Victoria 7s tournament in Victoria, BC. The elite boys division is going to be tough with Province All-Stars from BC, Ontario, Alberta plus All-Star teams from Washington (Loggers), NorCal and a British touring side from Cardinal Vaughn. This will be a true test of our Utah boys and we are all holding our breath for them! Let go Utah Lions!