The Ring Was Always Going to Be the Main Event — But Park Put on a Show Worth Watching First

The Ring Was Always Going to Be the Main Event — But Park Put on a Show Worth Watching First

by | May 11, 2026 | Columnists, Featured, Match Reports, News, Rugby

Lincoln Park 48 Silverbacks 19

There was something deliciously appropriate about a Lincoln Park performance this ferocious being merely the undercard. By the time the final whistle brought proceedings to a premature close — both sides apparently needed to be somewhere — Park had already said everything they needed to say, and they had said it loudly. Their teammate Dave Lepp was preparing to walk into a cage that evening and earn a unanimous judges' decision with his fists. His colleagues, it seems, were inspired by the spirit of the thing.

Because this was Lincoln Park with their knuckles up. Aggressive, purposeful, relentless through the phases — and yet, crucially, not brainless. The combination of raw carrying power and genuine structural intelligence was rarer than it sounds, and for long stretches of this contest it was quite irresistible.

The Silverbacks deserve a footnote of credit for their nerve. They crossed early in each half, which takes a certain bloody-mindedness, and they were not short of it. But they were swimming against a tide that grew stronger with every passing minute.

Between those moments of Silverbacks defiance, the scoring belonged entirely to one side. Quinn, operating with the unhurried authority of a man who has done this before, helped himself to two tries from the left wing — both finished with a composure that belied the pressure around him. Hudson spotted the opportunity where others might have clung to the ball and launched the tap-and-go that carved the defence open. And then there was Melody — a man who has scored easier tries only in his sleep — who somehow found himself placing the ball down from a distance measurable in inches rather than yards, and had the good sense not to overthink it.

The forwards carried with menace. The backs ran on to the ball at genuine pace. Would-be tacklers found themselves arriving a fraction too late and leaving a fraction too shaken. The gain line, that great arbiter of rugby contests, was consistently breached and consistently exploited.

Individual excellence threaded through the collective effort like a bright seam. Panzica, who has had company in the lineout struggles of recent weeks, threw with accuracy and conviction, and the set-piece was the better for it. Cooley ran as if he had a personal grievance to settle with every defensive line, scoring himself and unlocking teammates with equal enthusiasm. And Laux and Bricteux? They committed grand larceny at the breakdown with such brazen regularity that one wonders if the Silverbacks have lodged a formal complaint with local law enforcement.

It was a pity the game ended when it did. Not because the result was in doubt — it emphatically was not — but because this was a Lincoln Park performance worth watching to its natural conclusion. There were passages here that deserved a full audience and a full eighty minutes.

Lepp won his fight that night. Unanimously. His teammates had already made the point that victory, when Lincoln Park are operating at this level, can be just as emphatic.

If they carry this with them, the weeks ahead look considerably brighter.

Park pay the price for a slow mind and a slower start

Park pay the price for a slow mind and a slower start

by | May 11, 2026 | Columnists, Featured, Match Reports, News, Rugby

LPRFC 19 Chicago North Side 33

There are defeats and then there are self-portraits, and what Lincoln Park produced here was something uncomfortably close to the latter. Against a NorthSide Chicago side who knew exactly what they were about from the first whistle, Park looked like a team still warming up when the real work had long since begun.

The opening quarter told the story with brutal economy. NorthSide needed no invitation — they simply helped themselves to one, courtesy of an interception as Park attempted to move the ball wide after a high kick. It was the sort of error that happens when minds are elsewhere, and on this evidence, several of Park's were still in the changing room.

"Park looked like a team still warming up when the real work had long since begun."

Credit where it was due: Loomis hauled Lincoln Park back level with a try that had real quality about it — a galloping, long-limbed burst through the midfield that suggested, briefly, a different match might be in the offing. It was not. Two turnovers in quick succession handed NorthSide the initiative back, and their winger proved a menace of the most irritating kind — cutting inside off his wing with the sureness of a man who had done it a hundred times, and would do it again, which he duly did. Two tries from the same source, the same route, the same outcome: 24-7 and the match, to all intents and purposes, already decided.

Geiser's sharp-witted tap penalty on the stroke of half-time reduced the arrears and at least gave Lincoln Park something to build on during the interval conversation. Whether that conversation was frank enough is another matter entirely.

The second half was, at least, a more honest affair — more competitive in spirit if not in arithmetic. Park's try came from Mazy off the bench, a welcome injection of urgency from a substitute who carried more purpose than much of what preceded him. NorthSide added one more of their own to settle the matter beyond doubt, and settled it they did.

The brightest spark throughout, and it should be said loudly, was Schwartz. His running lines through the centres were genuinely clever — not just carrying hard but reading the defence and finding angles that the midfield around him was not always quick enough to exploit. He deserved better support. In the forwards, Tommy Lyons was characteristically industrious at the tackle, and Loomis — scorer and busy presence — gave Lincoln Park some forward momentum in a match where the pack was too often second to the breakdown.

After the quality Park had shown earlier in the campaign, this was a deflating afternoon — not without moments, but profoundly lacking the intensity that had made them worth watching. The table does not forgive slow starts, and neither should the players looking at themselves in the mirror this week.

New faces, old habits — Lincoln Park click into gear

New faces, old habits — Lincoln Park click into gear

by | Mar 29, 2026 | Columnists, Featured, Match Reports, News, Rugby

New faces, old habits — Lincoln Park click into gear

Lincoln Park arrived at NW Woodsmen with a squad of strangers. They left with 65 points, a hatful of tries and the unmistakable look of a side beginning to find itself.

Let us not overcomplicate this. Lincoln Park went to the Woodsmen, put 65 points on the board and barely looked troubled doing it. On a crisp afternoon that suited running rugby, they ran, they muscled, they improvised — and they won by a distance. Some performances need dissecting. This one simply needs acknowledging.

The real story, though, was not the scoreline. It was the context. Many of these men had never played together before. New combinations, unfamiliar voices calling in the lineout, alliances formed in the warm-up rather than across a season. And yet it clicked. That tells you something about the character in this squad.

The two French debutants deserve their billing. Chapuis is the kind of player who makes you lean forward — he reads the game a step ahead, finds the shoulder of the carrier and arrives at pace. His try, finishing off a sharp Cazenave break down the right, was the work of a player who knows exactly where he is supposed to be. Bricteux, meanwhile, brought the abrasion the back row demands. Energy, contest, presence. You always knew where he was.

In the loose, the Suldaze brothers were an intriguing combination. David does the quiet, essential work — the kind that never makes the highlights reel but makes everything else possible. Gio is the blunter instrument: physical, hard to shift, the sort of player opposition ball-carriers would rather not see arriving. He did let a clever Rosenfeld chip — and it was clever, the sort of audacity Finn Russell would sign off on — bounce untouched. He will know. These things happen early in a season.

Finnegan was the backs' standout. A hat-trick of tries, each one earned by doing the unglamorous thing — tracking the kick, committing to the chase, finishing without fuss. He had the instincts of a Bielle-Biarry operating well within himself. That should worry opponents when the pressure goes up.

Up front, Lincoln Park won the scrum battle they were not supposed to win. The Woodsmen pack had the ballast; Lincoln Park had the technique, the drive and the bloody-mindedness. Loomis set the tone, Mulkerin gave the scrum its go-forward and Geiser — ever alert, always in the right channel — picked up his try and conversion through sheer willingness to work.

But it was Medero who wrote the afternoon's headline. A hooker by trade, asked to play scrumhalf. Many players accept such requests and do a job. Medero lit up the afternoon. His 60-metre break, including a cool-headed step around the covering fullback, was the act of a man entirely comfortable in borrowed territory. File that one away. There is more to come from him.

Plenty still to sharpen, of course. There always is when a squad is this new to itself. But the foundations are there. Lincoln Park head home with a result worth remembering. The Woodsmen, to their credit, kept competing. Good hosts, honest opponents.

As opening statements go, this will do nicely.

Team: Mulkerin, Dorn, Geiser, Loomis, Sisti, Bricteux, Suladze D, Suladze G, Cazenave, Clarke, Callovini, Chapuis, Hudson, Jay, Finnegan

Finishers: Panzica, Medero, Leyman, Driscoll, DeBacker, Lyons T, Dollins, Spanola, Walsh E, Mazy, Rosenfeld

Tries: Finnegan 3, Geiser 1, Loomis 1, Chapuis 1, Clarke 1, Suladze G 1, Rosenfeld 1, Medero 1, Cavenave 1
Cons: Geiser 1, Pearman 4 

 

LPRFC D4 36 Eau Claire Orcs 12

LPRFC D4 36 Eau Claire Orcs 12

by | Oct 27, 2024 | Featured, Match Reports, News, Rugby

Park's Fellowship Vanquishes Orc Horde in Epic Battle on the Plains

In a display that would have made Gandalf himself stroke his beard in approval, Lincoln Park's warriors carved out a victory against the Eau Claire Orcs with the precision of Elvish bladework and the raw power of Dwarvish mining.

Before the assembled masses had settled into their seats, McCann - channeling the swift-footed Legolas - plucked an errant pass from the mists like an arrow from his quiver, sprinting 40 yards as if pursued by the Nazgûl themselves. The conversion sailed true, and Park had drawn first blood.

The Orcs, true to their namesake, attempted to bludgeon their way back with all the subtlety of a cave troll in a pottery shop. But they reckoned without the defensive masterclass of Foley and Church, who emerged like twin Rohirrim, scything down runners with clinical efficiency. Their presence at the breakdown was reminiscent of Gimli and Legolas's friendly competition, each trying to outdo the other in their count of successful turnovers.

Modev, clearly having feasted on lembas bread (or its modern equivalent - a Friday Chinese platter), displayed the endurance of an Ent, steamrolling through the opposition with metronomic consistency. His performance in the engine room would have earned approving nods from the forgemasters of Moria.

As the battle wore on, the dynamic duo of Daley and LaFlore - Park's answer to the Riders of Rohan - thundered through gaps in the defensive line. Daley's burst through the middle, finding Lee with a pass that had the precision of Galadriel's foresight, led to a spectacular corner try that had the crowd rising like the beacons of Gondor.

Yet, despite the victory, one could sense that Lincoln Park D4 felt this was but a taste of what’s to come. Moments of inaccuracy in the enemy’s 22 denied them the ruthlessness that true champions possess. But as Tolkien himself might remind us, all great heroes are forged in the fires of challenge and adversity. And for Park, this performance hinted that even greater glories lie ahead if they can sharpen their swords and strike with precision when opportunities next arise.

But for now, as the sun sets on another Saturday battlefield, Park can raise their mead horns high. The Orcs return to their stronghold vanquished, while Park's warriors live to fight another day, their quest for glory continuing.

Team: Cullen, Panzica, Modev, Lyons Z, Swancy, Church, Foley, Chrisos, Kishore, McCann, Lee, Daley, LaFlore, Walther, Rosenfeld

Finishers: Rottiers, Wilson J, Harrison, Smith, Olander, Karris, huschen, Carroll

Try: McCann 1, Lee 1, Church 1, Daley 1, LaFlore 1, Karris 1
Con: LaFlore 3

LPRFC D4 52 SSI 15

LPRFC D4 52 SSI 15

by | Oct 13, 2024 | Featured, Match Reports, News, Rugby

In the sweltering heat of an unseasonably hot day, Lincoln Park D4 delivered a performance that will echo through the annals of Midwest rugby, dismantling SSI with a display of power, precision, and occasional profligacy.

The first half was a tale of Park dominance tempered by the cruel hand of fate and the eagle eye of the officials. Twice, the men in gold thought they had crossed the whitewash, only for their jubilation to be cut short. First, it was Delisa, the opportunistic winger, who pounced on a Rosenfeld grubber, only to be ruled to have fumbled at the crucial moment. Then came Clarke's moment of despair, his try chalked off for a knock-on that had escaped all but the most discerning of eyes.

But Park would not be denied. The converted number 8, Chrisos, injected an element of attacking flair that SSI simply couldn't contain. It was his pass that finally unleashed DeLisa, who crossed for a try that had been coming since the first whistle. Rottiers, a battering ram in human form, had softened the Irish defense with a bone-crunching break that set the stage for Delisa's score.

As the half wore on, Park's superiority began to tell. McCann and Lee added their names to the scoresheet, stretching the lead to a seemingly insurmountable margin. But rugby, in its infinite wisdom, always has a twist in the tale. A momentary lapse in concentration, a misjudgment of the clock, gifted SSI a 5m lineout. From this sliver of opportunity, the Irish conjured a try, a reminder that no lead is truly safe in this most unforgiving of sports.

If the first half showcased Park's potential, the second was a masterclass in its realization. Delisa, not content with a single score, carved through the Irish defense with a run so mesmeric it left spectators questioning the laws of physics. But it was the power game that truly broke Irish hearts and bodies alike.

Daley and LaFlore, twin titans of destruction, rampaged through the midfield with all the subtlety of a freight train and twice the impact. Daley, in particular, seemed to take personal offense at any attempt to tackle him, brushing aside defenders to score a brace that will give the SSI tacklers nightmares for weeks to come. Not to be outdone, LaFlore added his own long-range effort, a try that spoke volumes of Park's fitness and ambition.

This was more than a victory; it was a statement. Lincoln Park D4 have secured the Midwest's number one seed heading into the playoffs, and on this evidence, they will take some stopping. For SSI, there will be soul-searching and bruise-counting in equal measure. For the neutrals, it was a reminder of rugby's capacity to thrill, even in the face of oppressive heat.

As the dust settles on this encounter, one can't help but feel that we've witnessed the emergence of a force in Midwest rugby. Lincoln Park D4 have thrown down the gauntlet. The question now is: who dares to pick it up?

Team: Wilson J, Rottiers, Modev, Smith, Swancy, Church, Foley, Chrisos, Scully, McCann, DeLisa, Daley, Clarke, Lee, Rosenfeld

Finishers: Rasmussen, Harrison, David, Olander, LaFlore, Walsh E, Schoenes, Lakin

Try: DeLiasa 2, McCann 1, Lee 1, Daley 2, LaFlore 1, Clarke 1,
Con: Clarke 5, Olander 1