April 17, 2005
Sunday saw the Pigs take on the Fox Cities (Wisconsin) Gargoyles, who had defeated Lake County (Illinois) in Saturday’s other match. We had the wind in the first half, and fly half Mark “Repo” Erickson managed to place some nice kicks to put the Fox Cities defence on their heals. While we dominated possession early and had the ball inside the Fox Cities 22 for long stretches, the Gargoyles tackling was good, and they held us scoreless for the first 20 minutes. The deadlock was finally broken when after a Fox Cities penalty for diving over a ruck, Ponch took a quick tap and was hit by a player who hadn’t retreated the 10 meters. With the extra 10 meters, Naber was able to successfully convert the attempt at goal for a 3-0 lead. The rest of the half was more of the same, as we had the ball in the Gargoyle end, but couldn’t quite break through to score. That trend finally ended in first half injury time when Ponch took another quick tap on a penalty 5 meters out and passed off to Sonnek who eluded a couple defenders for the score. Naber’s kick was again good, and it was 10-0 at the half.
The second half saw Fox Cities come out rejuvenated, and after a bad giveaway and several missed tackles, they were able to break through for a try just 3 minutes in to the second half. Just when it looked like they might use their momentum and take the lead, we drove back down to their 10 meter line, and off a well consolidated ruck Ponch passed out to Repo who hit a drop goal that wavered but went over to up the lead to 13-7. Fox Cities continued to pressure and use the wind, and had several opportunities to score, but our defense held firm, highlighted by a held ball in the try zone in the 60th minute that gave us a five meter scrum and a chance to alleviate the pressure. This eventually led to a penalty which Naber kicked deep into touch, and off the ensuing a lineout a beautiful rolling maul by our forwards ended with Luke Utting getting in for the try. The conversion was again good, 20-7. Fox Cities refused to quit, however, and continued to put on the pressure. With around 10 minutes remaining, their fullback broke through the line and looked like he had the angle to score, only for Gitch to come flying in from his wing spot to make the try saving tackle. A few more tackles and some well place defensive kicks, and the Pigs were able to run out the clock and earn the victory.
All in all, it was a great weekend, and everyone on the team played well. Despite a few injured players (both before and during this weekend), the whole club pulled together and earned a trip to Chicago for the Midwest finals in two weeks.
Lineup:
1. Troy Midboe (Luke Utting) 2. Danny Kieffer (Rich Cerasini) 3. Matt Sonnek (Ben Hanson) 4. Jason Naber 5. Ryan Backman 6. Mike Peloquin (Grizzly Malchow) 7. Zac Bauer 8. Mike Hankee (Captain) 9. Jason Rombalski 10. Mark Erickson 11. Brett Carter 12. Jesse Struve 13. Jamarr Johnson 14. Gitch Onsongo 15. Jeff Zweber
Scoring:
Tries: Sonnek, Utting
Conversions: Naber (2/2)
Penalties: Naber (1/1)
Drop Goal: Erickson (1/1)