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The Milwaukee rugby club stays in first place in the Midwest 7s standings after defeating the Chicago Lions in the final of the Firehouse 7s at the Chicago Blaze fields in Lamont, Ill.

Milwaukee leads the Midwest standings with 14 points from two first place finishes and one second, while the Lions remain in second with ten points from one first place and one second.

Milwaukee won all their pool matches, 28-7 over Northwestern, 40-0 over the Chicago Griffins, and 24-14 over the Chincinnati Wolfhounds.

After downing Kalamazoo 47-7 in the semis they hammered the Lions 47-14 in the final.

“Milwaukee kicked our butts,” said Lions coach Aaron Manheimer, simply.

The Lions ran up some big scores in their pool games over the University of Dayton, Kalamazoo and the Blaze but struggled in the semis, beating Cincinnati 21-17.

“The tide seemed to turn early with us being able to break their line and press hard on defense,” said Milwaukee’s Max Zukowski.

Milwaukee led 28-0 at halftime and cruised. Zukowski said he remembered the 2007 Midwest championship where a large Milwaukee lead was eliminated by a Lions comeback.

“Today was a different story,” said Zukowski. “We kept up the pressure and tempo the whole second half.”

The Lions did play better in the second half and scored two tries, but Milwaukee ran in three.

Zukowski lauded excellent efforts today by Milwaukee hooker Kevin Smyth and backs Jeremy Petfalski and Marc Petersen, all of whom broke the defensive line regularly all day.

Next up for the teams will be the Lakefront 7s in Milwaukee next weekend, where the Lions will be looking for some revenge.