The Utah Lions, the state all-star program, pulled in incredible upset off in Las Vegas during the Las Vegas invitational. Opening up in pool play, Utah defeated Bermuda HS All-Star team 22-5 in their opening match and then quickly putting away Bingham United 60-0 with Tance Alsup scoring 4 tries in that match. A defeat of Tennessee Tri-Star Red completed the sweep of the pool with a 22-7 victory. That ended the Lions first day with a sweep of their pool and a point ratio of 104 f or to 12 against and putting the Lions in to the cup quarter finals on Friday. That when the magic happened.

With 5 Utah teams competing in the LVI ( Lions, Herriman, 2 teams from United and one from Snow Canyon), only Herriman remained in the race for the cup on Friday morning. Lions had seeded out at number 1 of the 8 teams chasing the cup and had to face a tough Tennessee Tri-Star blue team, the A-side of the three teams Tennessee brought. Utah started what would appear to be a smaller squad, sitting most of the power players on the side to give Tennessee a false sense of size superiority but the depth the Lions had on the team was deceiving and the “smaller” team quickly put 12 points on the board compared to Tennessee’s at the half with both tries coming from Colton Swapp. At half time Utah saw a 3 subs come in adding speed and size in the form of Peter Makalio, Himinai Tausinga and Tance Alsup. This caused Tennessee to counter with tactical subs of their own but the coup d’grace came with addition of Ikaika Primacio and Kekoa Isaacs providing power and ball movement in the middle. Captained again by Colton Swapp, , the Utah Lions put Tennessee down 24-5.

Having moved into the Semifinals, the Lions were now the last team left in the run for the cup. Herriman had fallen in a heartbreaker loss to British Columbia Elite 7s team by 3 points after having led most of the match. That put Utah against BC in the Semifinals. The Lions, having watched BC struggle against the large, 15s style attack of the Herriman team, opted for a bit of deception.  Starting their speediest, most agile side, the Lions passive defense stymied BC and kept the score 0-0 at the half. Now the game began. Quickly subbing in the power players of Co-Captain Bridger Gilgen, Himinai Tausinga, and Matt Miner, BC didn’t know what to do.defense, led by the "Matts" of Matt Miner and Matt Larson, was stifling. With 2:34 left in the match, the Norse God Bridger Gilgen hammered the BC inside and put the pill down between the posts. The Co-Captain Elliot McDaniel slotted the conversion and Utah goes up 7-0. BC would not be denied and after a defensive breakdown by Utah on the right side, BC put the goal down with no time left leaving the score 7-7 and pushing the game into a 5 minute overtime. Startegy switched for both teams as each tried to find a weakness in the defense but Utah quietly pushed Tance Alsup to the left wing where they had seen a potential speed overlap against BC and at the very end of overtime play, Tance was able to slip past the BC defender and put the ball under the uprights. Unbelievably, the Lions had defeated BC Elite 7s, the 4 time winner of the LVI in the Semifinals. The sideline roared in support and disbelief. ICEF, a Los Angeles inner city team had already narrowly defeated Celtic Barbarians and for the first time in LVI history it would be a US v US final with all Canadian teams knocked out of competition.

ICEF was a incredibly tough team. They had a player already signed to UCLA on a full ride football scholarship who had devastated teams with an incredibly powerful running game and a smothering defense. This guy was everywhere, which happened to be the key to their defeat. Utah opted for a very patient, passive defense to “keep the line” offering an enticing soft shoulder. The key to Utah defense all day had been sweeper Aleni Aiono who, with incredible speed and agility, had provided the stopping and controlling power required to effectively defend the shoulder Utah would offer to teams during passive defensive play and the roving backup when a high pressure defense was called. While attacking, Utah opted to play ”keep away”. Forcing ICEF to shift rapidly side to side, isolating their better player and opening gaps in their defense. The strategy worked and Utah led ICEF under Captain Elliot McDaniel’s leadership and Utah defeated ICEF to win the LVI 22-5. This is the first time a US team has won the LVI for the High School Division. Utah put up a massive 164 points for Utah and only gave up 29 points the entire game. Not sure if that is a record but it should be!

Congrats to the Utah Lions All-Stars for a tremendous victory in Las Vegas and wish them success in the other tours in 2014!