In contrast to Round 4, Round 5 had a slew of entertaining games. Dudes finally lost, and Ross finally won. Dudes vs. Sues came down to the final minute. Looking ahead, four teams remain in the race for the Intrasquads title.
Final Regular Season Standings
| # | Team | Pts | W | L | T | PF | PA | PD | |
| 1 | Dudes | 27 | 8 | 1 | 1 | 263 | 159 | +104 | |
| 2 | Sues | 22 | 6 | 4 | 0 | 256 | 137 | +119 | |
| 3 | Jones | 20 | 4 | 4 | 2 | 176 | 168 | +8 | |
| 4 | Benny | 20 | 5 | 5 | 0 | 152 | 187 | -35 | |
| 5 | Canham | 18 | 3 | 5 | 2 | 196 | 248 | -52 | |
| 6 | Ross | 13 | 1 | 8 | 1 | 117 | 261 | -144 |
Playoff Schedule
The bracket for the championship playoffs is below. The playoff round is on Monday, February 24, and concludes with a trophy ceremony.
Note: Jones and Benny were tied in the standings, but Jones received the higher seed because the tiebreaker is point differential (+8 vs. -35).
Points Leaders
We have a different player on top of the points leaderboard! Jordan Perez led the field for most of the tournament, but he sat out Round 5 and Liam Clancy took advantage. Clancy scored six tries last night to guide his team (Benny) into the final playoff spot. The only addition to the top 15 is Cesar Orozco. Orozco has provided Jones a huge boost with his leg this tournament.
Play of the Week
The Round 5 Play of the Week goes to the Bennies for their outstanding display of teamwork in the eighth minute against Canham. Pablo Ballesteros, Niko Kyriacou and Juan Marco worked the ball to the sideline before Nathan Feldman worked it back inside, decimating the defense and setting up a Liam Clancy try. Great work, guys!
Power Rankings
Finally, check out our power rankings entering the playoffs. Remember, these rankings don’t necessarily reflect the tournament standings, and are based on the opinions of this committee.
1. Dudes
Round 5: Win vs. Sues (24-17), Loss vs. Ross (22-27)
Dudes had a stressful night, opening with a close victory over Sues in an awesome match. After leading at halftime, Dudes had to fend off a strong comeback attempt led by Jamie Demers. However, Jared Char’s magical try in the final minute of play secured the victory. They weren’t so fortunate in their second game. Facing a hungry Ross squad, Dudes went down big in the first half and couldn’t come back. Given they were missing their star player, Jordan Perez, Dudes has nothing to be worried about entering the playoffs.
2. Sues
Round 5: Loss vs. Dudes (17-24), Loss vs. Canham (25-26)
Sues was without both Jack Vecchio and George Janke in Round 5, and it showed. The team didn’t play terribly, but it was uncharacteristically lacking on defense. Sues still has the best point differential in the tournament, and seems very close to getting over the hump against Dudes. The team will only get one more shot, at most…
3. Benny
Round 5: Win vs. Canham (29-12), Win vs. Jones (17-14)
Benny needed a win against Canham to secure their spot in the playoffs and boy, did they deliver. Led by Liam Clancy, they roared to a 29-0 lead at one point in their blowout victory over Canham. They followed that dominant performance with a win over fellow playoff-contender Jones. Benny is picking up steam. Can they ride this momentum into the playoffs?
4. Jones
Round 5: Tie vs. Ross (12-12), Loss vs. Benny (14-17)
This week was not the convincing week Jones wanted before they head into the playoffs. They tied their first game against lowly Ross despite strong efforts from Sam Glasberg and Cesar Orozco. In their second game, they simply did not have the firepower to overcome Benny. Jones has regressed back to its pre-Round 3 state. Hopefully Davis Grimm can get back to full health–Jones needs him.
5. Canham
Round 5: Loss vs. Benny (12-29), Win vs. Sues (26-25)
Canham needed two big wins to keep their playoff dreams alive, but couldn’t get the job done against Benny. Though the team had already lost their chances at a playoff spot, they persevered in their second game to take down the second-ranked Sues behind Bryce Watson’s four tries. Though this team didn’t live up to its preseason hype, it still got some big wins, showing that some of its struggles can be attributed to inconsistency and a generally young team. But given that Canham also missed Captain Tanner Visco for most of the tournament, the team was doomed to fail.
6. Ross
Round 5: Tie vs. Jones (12-12), Win vs. Dudes (27-22)
What a week for Ro$$! Game one ended in a hard fought tie again$t Jone$ with trie$ from Justin Metti and a new guy, Ce$ar Rodriguez. Game two had a different ending than Ro$$ ha$ grown accustomed to–a win again$t the be$t team in the tournament, Dude$! Eion $an$evero and young fre$hman $tud Grant $a$ina had two trie$ apiece. Next up: Canham, in the fifth place game.
