VALDOSTA — The Valdosta State Rugby Club made waves last year when it traveled to Philadelphia to take part in the National Small College Rugby Organization’s 7s national tournament — finishing third in the country. On Saturday VSU hosted one of eight national qualifiers at North Campus with the winner set to move on to the national tournament May 30.

“Since our establishment in 2010, there’s been a great group of guys through and through, and it really is an ode to them to keep the tradition alive, and take on huge events like this,” said VSU Rugby president Scott Laffler. “This is a nationally recognized tournament. Whoever wins here goes to Philadelphia, same as we did last year.”

Lee University and the University of North Florida participated in the qualifier to oppose Valdosta State, making for a highly competitive field despite Loyola University pulling out of the field.

“The competition was stout,” Laffler said. “These same four teams — well there was supposed to be four, but Loyola backed out — were the same ones that were in the 15s league South Cup.

“In NSCRO, these are the best in the Southeast. We couldn’t have asked for a more competitive field.”

North Florida beat VSU 17-7 in the first game of the day before the Blazers turned around and defeated Lee 26-10 at 11:15 a.m.

After a 45-minute break, North Florida returned to action against Lee, rolling the Flames 27-0 in the third match of the day to advance to the finals.

The teams took another breather before beginning the semifinal round at 1 p.m.

With Valdosta State looking to set up a rematch against North Florida for the a berth to the NSCRO national tournament, it eliminated Lee by a score of 17-7 to move on to the finals.

The qualifier’s final round began at 1:55 p.m., and it was worth the wait.

North Florida beat VSU 26-21 for its second victory on the afternoon against the Blazers in a hard-fought battle that went down to the wire.

Both teams scored two tries in the first half, and nailed both extra point attempts, to reach halftime with the game tied at 14 apiece.

In the second half, both teams scored once more before North Florida’s try with time expiring lifted the Osprey’s to the win.

Although disappointed with missing out on a chance to advance further in the NSCRO national tournament, Laffler and Valdosta State were happy with the turnout from the home crowd.

“Unfortunately, we can’t go this year, but there’s always next year,” said Laffler following the loss. “It’s the community that we have that’s the most awesome thing about all this.”