Match Report

Pigs vs. Lakehead 34 – 22

September 27, 2003

It was a cool and windy morning as the Pigs took the field at the National Sports Center in Blaine against Lakehead. Despite the long drive from Thunder Bay, it was Lakehead who came out stronger at the start, as the Pigs continued our bad habit of starting games slowly. A poorly fielded kickoff followed by some poor tackling allowed Lakehead to touch down in the corner for an early 5-0 lead just 3 minutes into the match. The conversion was missed on what would prove an extremely tough day for goal kicking for both sides.

The Pigs quickly regained our poise, however, and fought back with a try 11 minutes in. Some nice backline work saw a skip from fly half Bill Bridgeman out to Scott Colby who found fullback Grant Dietrich inserting into the line. As the last defender committed, the ball went out to Brett “Pebbles” Carter who sprinted past the defense and centered the ball for the try. The conversion was good, and it was 7-5. The match then slowed for a bit, until a similar backline work through the hands of Dietrich and Colby again ended up with Pebbles on the wing touching down for a score in the corner and a 12-5 lead 33 minutes in. Lakehead fought back gamely, however, and after a series of Pigs’ penalties punched in another try for a halftime score of 12-10.

The second half started well for the Pigs as Lakehead gave up a penalty at midfield and Cobly kicked the ball into touch inside the Lakehead 5 meter line. A nice drive by the pack from the ensuing lineout led to a Luke Utting try and a 17-10 score. Five minutes later the lead should have increased as Colby broke free into the try zone, but he failed to place the ball down and was knocked out the back(he claims the try zone was too short), so no try. Brushing off this set back, the scoring continued 5 minutes later when a Bridgeman kick through bounced perfectly for our winger who gathered the ball and fell into the corner for the score. That was followed by a bit of redemption for Colby as he scored a try in the 60th minute (and managed to place the ball this time) for a 27-10 score.

Lakehead then fought back again, with some strong running from their inside center who scored to make it 27-15. A final Pigs try with around 10 minutes remaining came from Jake Hodgson off a series of forward crashes. Lakehead closed out the scoring with one last converted try, for a final tally of 34-22 and a continuing undefeated league record for the season for the Pigs.

Lineup:
1.Troy Midboe (Chris Griffith) 2.Matt Sonnek 3.Luke Utting 4.Jake Hodgson 5.Ben Hanson (Mike Soucheray) 6.Joe Huberty 7.Mike Lundberg 8.Mike Hankee (captain) 9.Jason Rombalski 10.Bill Bridgeman 11.Brett Carter (Jon Sydow) 12.Pio Piliami 13.Scott Colby 14.Earnest Wayde 15.Grant Deitrich

Scoring:
Tries: Carter (2), Utting, Colby, Hodgson
Conversions: Bridgeman (2/6)