October 20, 2007
In this matchup of teams each with only one loss on the season, it was a predictably very close, back and forth match. The Pigs started brightly for the first few minutes, but then fell back into some old bad habits and started giving away possession, eventually leading to a penalty and a try by Lakehead and an early 8-0 deficit. That score would remain until shortly before halftime when Ryan Backman powered over for a try that was converted by Jason Naber for an 8-7 score at the break.
The second half saw more of the same back and forth play, as first St Paul went up 12-8 on a Grant Dietrich try in the corner, before Lakehead scored again to make it 12-13. Then a bad penalty by the Pigs was tapped quickly and spun out by Lakehead, which led to another try and an 12-18 Exiles lead with around 12 minutes to play. The Pigs were not to be denied on this day though, as 5 minutes later, after a penalty 15 meters from the posts, a forward crash was followed by a nice solo run by Zac Bauer who touched down for the try. Naber’s conversion was good, giving the Pigs a 19-18 lead. Some late Lakehead pressure followed over the last minutes of the game, but the St Paul defense held firm and held on for the win to clinch a Midwest playoff berth and end an excellent Fall Regular Season.
Line Up:
1. Ben Hanson, 2. Alan Martin, 3. Jake Gronemeyer, 4. Chris Ries (Mark Fredrickson), 5. Jason Naber, 6. Ryan Backman, 7. Josh Van Gelder (captain) (Zac Bauer), 8. Chris Swanson, 9. Zach Fjelsted, 10. Scott Colby, 11. Diego Bonita, 12. Aaron Hyman, 13. Dennis Edwards (Steve King), 14. Andy Schwartz, 15. Grant Dietrich
Scoring:
Tries: Backman, Dietrich, Bauer
Consversions: Naber (2/3)