16 June 1999, Washington DC – The 17^th Annual PAC Sevens was played under the shadow of the Washington Monument on the National Mall in Washington DC and the host team, the Potomac Athletic Club, defeated Philly-Whitemarsh 21-9, to win the Premier Division.  A combined Ft. Myer/USUHS (United States Uniformed Health Services) team shutout Washington II 36-0 in the Open Division championship.

In the Premier Division PAC finished pool play second in group one.  They defeated Philly-Whitemarsh and Washington Irish but lost a tough battle to Norfolk 21-19 on a late conversion.  Norfolk would make it to the semi-finals 3-0 and as the top seed. The Maryland Exiles ran away from the competition in Group 2, defeating Washington, Baltimore-Chesepeake and the Baltimore Tigers for the number 2 seeding in the semifinals.  Philly meanwhile managed to escape from pool 1 as the fourth semi-finalist on two strong losing performances against PAC and Norfolk and a win over the Washinginton Irish.

The semi-finals setup a rematch for Philly and Norfolk.  The two teams traded scores (5-5) in the opening minutes of the first half.  Philly finished the half with another try to pull ahead 10-5.  In the second half, Philly-Whitemarsh furthered their lead punching in early to open a 17-5 margin over the Blues.  Philly was gaining an edge by applying strong defensive pressure on any Norfolk possessions and forcing turnovers.  However, in the closing minutes Norfolk had opportunities to regain control of the game.  Two Norfolk opportunities to close the gap were spoiled by great individual efforts from prop Dean Zammitt.  Zammitt killed two Norfolk scoring opportunities on long-distance run downs, including one that resulted in a Norfolk try being stopped when he batted the ball out of the hands of the ballcarrier as he was about to touch it down.  Philly added one more score to close out the game 22-5.

Meanwhile, PAC squared off against crosstown rival the Maryland Exiles.  This contest matched the physical defense of the PAC squad against the wide open attack of Maryland.  However, it was PAC who seemed to be the attacking squad on the day.  PAC moved the ball well and found holes in the Exiles defensive patterns and scored two first half tries (14-0).  After adding a third and fourth try by 3 minutes into the second frame PAC eased towards the end of the game.  Hooker Jason Maloni saved Maryland from a shutout and added a try with no time left, final score 28-5.

The final setup a rematch of the 1998 MARFU sevens championship Philly vs. PAC.  The pool game between these two SuperLeague rivals had proven to be a physical, confrontation match-up.  However, the final, though defensive, produced more possession style play.  Each team was creating opportunites but the defense always seemed to recover.  Until the 2.50 mark of the first period when PAC opened up the scoring on a great individual effort by prop Keni Helu.  After taking a pass from fellow prop Reon Stewart, Helu ducked inside one tackler and headed down field from his own 40 meter line.  The cover defense would pin Helu at the 10 meter line, but not his support.  Wing Brent Steimetz  finished this first break to put PAC ahead 7-0.  PAC would not slow down and broke the Philly defense again a mid-field. With their forwards doing a lot of work to force the Philly defense to commit, PAC would eventually find a seam to exploit. On this occasion, center Javier Rocha finished a break started by hooker Tom Lyons  putting PAC ahead 14-0.  Philly responded with a try from center Don Foy.  Foy finished a multi-phase attack inside the PAC 22 meter to narrow the gap to 14-5 just before the half. 

PAC responded in the second half by re-asserting their attack.  The Philly defensive pattern was broken again at mid-field and PAC punched in for another long try, moving ahead 21-5.  The two teams battled to a stand still over the next few minutes until PAC yeilded under strong pressure by the Philly attack.  With less then three minutes to go, Philly prop Dan Whetzel scored and Fey converted to close to 9 points – 22-12.  Philly-Whitemarsh continued pressuring the PAC squad into the last minute of play and drove them deep into their own end multiple times.  However, tenacious PAC tackling and near perfect defense did not allow Philly to open any holes.  PAC would hold Philly out for the final 3 minutes to close the game at 21-12 for the Champoinship.

PAC 

1 – Keni Helu

2 – Tom Lyons

3 – Reon Stewart

4 – Agustine Oulton #

5 – Jones Feaunati

6 – Javier Rocha

7 – Brent Steinmetz (c)

# - Tom Kenney @ 7 minutes

Philadelphia-Whitemarsh

1 – Dan Whetzel

2 – Tom Sarisky

3 – Dean Zammitt

4 – Adrian Stoch

5 – Mike Dunahue

6 – Don Foy

7 – Mark Fey

In the Open Division, Ft Myer/USUHS escaped the pool round with victories over Quantico and Maryland Exiles II.  However, they lost a match to a strong Severn River team.  The would be a third seed and face an undefeated United in the first semi-final.  United posted solid victories over Paxtuxent River RFC, Washington Irish II andWashington II.  Ft.Myer quickly  fell behind by two tries against a strong United attack.  However, they would narow the gap just before the break go into the half down 10-7.  Ft. Mayer proceeded to control the second period and posted 3 second half tries to come from behind and upset United 24-10. 

The other semi-final matched 2-1 Severn River (wins over Quantico and Ft. Myer/USUHS, loss to Maryland Exiles II) against Washington II who defeated Washington Irish II and Paxtuxent River.  Washington II used an fast open attack and controlled much of the tempo of this game.  They scored early and led the entire game on their way to a 22-7 victory.

Like the Premier Division Washington II and Ft. Myer climbed from the lower seeds to make an appearance in the final.  This final was accented by the relentless defensive pressure and great tackling of the Ft. Myer/USHUS squad.  They simply dismantled the Washington II attack by making virtually every tackle, man for man, time and time again.  The defensive pressure resulted in multiple opportunites for the Ft. Myer team and the would post 5 tries on their way to a 36-0 victory.

The Potomac Athletic Club was pleased to host this event on the grounds of the National Mall and wanted to thank the National Park Service of their continuing support and cooperation.  The location meant hundreds of tourists got a taste of rugby on their way to other Washington DC sites.  PAC also wanted to thank the staff and doctors at Captial Rehab, the sponsors of the 1999 PAC Sevens.