Saturday, September 17th
St. Paul vs. Minneapolis Mayhem
The day was cool and slightly overcast. A great day to open up league play. Although the score didn’t necessarily indicate it, the Mayhem’s skills have improved over the last few years and a good match was enjoyed by each team. New Pig Aaron ran very hard at Center and led the team with five tries on the day earning Man of the Match. Another new Pig, Dave, showed how tough he was and won big hitter. 78-0 in favor of the Pigs.
The second match of the day was Pigs versus Lakehead. The teams were very evenly matched. The first half was back and forth with neither team able to get points on the board. With seconds to play in the first half, Lakehead found a hole and found the try zone. Unable to convert, they led the match 5-0.
The second half opened with more of the same. The Pigs were in position on a couple of penalties to convert for points, but the windy conditions made finding the posts difficult. Finally a good opporunity arose directly in front of the posts and the Pigs closed the gap 5-3. The Pigs continued to push, however like the first half Lakehead found a couple of gaps in the defense and was able to push through 2 more tries. With 12 minutse to play Lakehead led 19-3.
The Pigs determined to keep pushing, lead a surge in the closing minutes. The Pigs first try of the day was on a sensational run by Soft Porn. He zig-zagged his was through the defense to close the gap 19-10. The Pigs could now feel as though a comeback was possible. With 5 minutes to play, the ball came out of the scrum and down the backline. Padre looking like he was a spry 29 year old tossed the ball out to SoftPorn, who sucked in the defense, then made a magnificent pass to Dietrich. Dietrich sensing Padre looping along the line flipped the ball to the end. Padre realizing the defense was up tight, put down a perfect grubber that he was able to chase down and score the try. With the score now reading 14-19, it was close, but time was not on the Pigs side.
The Pigs again took control of the ball. Pushing hard into the Lakehead side of the field, backs and pack alike took turns taking the ball closer to the try line. With less than a minute to play, young Greg Lehmicke took the ball straight into 5 Lakehead forwards and found a seam to push the ball into the try zone. The Pigs came out victorious 20-19.
Having used all his old man strength in the game, Padre was unable to make it to the social to accept man of the match, but Ben Mattox stepped up to accept the award. Great work on the day to everyone!