April 3, 2004
Saturday’s match in Des Moines saw the Pigs struggle to work out some early season kinks, but come together as a team later in the match and nearly pull out a win. From the opening kick off the Pigs had some good movement and advanced deep into the Des Moines end before giving up possession. From there, however, a spate of mistakes cost us dearly, as we gave up 2 quick tries due to some poor tackling and lack of defensive organization. After reqrouping, a nice move down the right sideline eventually saw Jamarr Johnson get in for the score. Des Moines soon came back with a try of their own, but Saint Paul answered shortly before half time with Grant Dietrich centering the ball and Bill Bridgeman making the conversion for a 17-12 half time deficit.
The second half saw a stronger effort and better team play from the Pigs, as we outscored Des Moines 12-10 and came up just short of the victory. Second half tries were scored by Jeff Zweber and Jake Hodgson.
Lineup:
1. Luke Utting 2. Zac Bauer (Chris Rosenquest) 3. Troy Midboe (Chris Griffith) 4. Grizzly Malchow (Ike Muringai) 5. Jason Naber 6. Joe Huberty 7. Mike Soucheray (Ben Hanson) 8. Jake Hodgson 9. Jason Rombalski(Captain) 10. Bill Bridgeman 11. David Houle (Steve King) 12. JR Burgess 13. Jamarr Johnson 14. Jeff Zweber 15. Grant Dietrich
Scoring:
Tries: Johnson, Dietrich, Zweber, Hodgson
Conversions: Bridgeman (2/4)
B-Side Match
The second match saw a strong Pigs side with a mixture of experience and new blood take the field for a shortened match and come out with the victory. We scored first through Jason Naber, who then failed to convert his own kick despite having scored directly between the posts. The second half saw us go down 7-5 before fighting back with a try from JR Burgess to retake the lead at 10 – 7. Finally, late in the match Luke Utting broke through to score a clinching try for the final 17-7 scoreline.
Scoring:
Tries: Naber, Burgess, Utting
Conversions: Naber (1/3)