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UPublish story by rugbyreporter
POSTED: 10:21 a.m. EDT, Sep 23, 2008
This past Saturday, the Akron Rugby Football Club’s hopes of a third straight Midwest playoff berth took a major hit. The club travelled across the border to Pennsylvania to take on Erie. On a perfect day for rugby, Akron fell victim to a very biased Erie referee and ultimately lost the match by a narrow 15-14 margin. The close score compounded the woes for Akron as even with the cards stacked against them, the match was still theirs to win.The match started out hot and heavy as both clubs traded shots. The defenses held strong and neither club could mount any sort of sustained offensive attack. Akron went into the match looking to get the ball wide to their backs while Erie focused on driving the ball up the middle of the pitch with their forwards. Erie did an excellent job covering their suspiciously narrow field, but Akron continued to force the ball out to their backs even though they had no room to run.
Erie would get on the scoreboard first as one of their players would intercept an Andy Gilbert pass and streak the length of the field. With one man to beat, the Erie player chipped the ball into the endzone and got a lucky bounce in his direction to put Erie up 5-0.
Akron’s lone scoring opportunity would come late in the half via a penalty kick. Inside center, Andrew Martin would miss the kick right and Erie would take their lead into halftime.
The second half would see the referee take more influence over the outcome of the match. Early in the half, a beautiful movement by Steve Karlovec put his brother Robert into the open field for what appeared to be a certain try, but the ref would call the play back. To make matters worse, the ref would then realize his mistaken call and apologize to the Akron squad for costing them a score. Akron would get on the board shortly thereafter. With a series of ball retention Akron would move the ball deep into Erie territory. Prop, Scott Whitney would take the ball off the base of a ruck and rumble 20 meters for a try. Grant Johnson would convert the try to give Akron a 7-5 lead.
Erie would bounce back within minutes and slot a penalty goal to retake the lead at 8-7. The match would return to a defensive battle for the next twenty minutes before Erie got another lucky bounce on a kick deep into Akron territory. The ball would find its way back into Erie hands and Erie would use the momentum to push their forwards over for another score. The conversion kick appeared to push left, but the Erie line judge ruled the kick good and Erie took a commanding 15-7 lead with less than ten minutes to play.
Akron would mount another scoring opportunity when Joe Trunkett offloaded to Andrew Martin, who got the ball to Brian Racin with an open sideline to the endzone. Unfortunately, the referee would call the play back for a forward pass and Akron would miss out on another scoring opportunity. With less than five minutes left in the match Akron made a final push deep into Erie territory. Prop, Mike Manuel took a quick tap on an Erie penalty, took on three Erie defenders and passed to Ted Hardy who crashed over for the score. Andrew Martin converted the score to put the score at 15-14 with minutes left to play.
With one last chance to salvage victory, Akron took the kickoff from Erie, but turned the ball over immediately. Erie kicked to touch and sealed their victory. It was a very disappointing loss for Akron and one that could ultimately cost them a place in the playoffs. The Akron defense played very hard the entire match with many players contributing with solid efforts. The Akron offensive attack was lacking throughout the match and adjustments weren’t made. It was a very surprising twist as the Akron offensive attack has been solid throughout the year.
The loss leaves Akron at 1-2 in league play (11-8-1 overall). Erie sits atop the Eastern Division standings with a 3-0 record. Akron will now need to win their remaining three league matches and need some help to get back into the playoffs.
Final Score
Erie 15 Akron 14
Akron Lineup
1: Manuel 2: Hillebrecht 3: Whitney (Perko @ 60) 4: Trunkett 5: S. Karlovec 6: Langenbeck 7: R. Karlovec 8: Hardy 9: Gilbert 10: Johnson (Jackson @ 70) 11: DiFrancesco 12: Martin (Capt) 13: Rector 14: Racin 15: Rotili
Akron Scoring
Tries: Whitney, Hardy
Conversions: Johnson 1 for 1, Martin 1 for 1
Penalty: Martin 0 for 1
Erie Scoring
2 tries, conversion, penalty
The Akron B side bounced back and salvaged the day with a solid 12-0 victory over Erie’s B side. To no one’s surprise the referee from the A side match turned around and suited up for Erie in the B side match. Yeah, real nice. Regardless, this gave the Killer B’s a chance to exact some revenge and they did so in fine fashion. Robert Jackson led the charge for the B’s with hard running and even harder tackling all match long. Jackson would score both of the B’s tries and Tom Cody would add a conversion in the winning effort.
Next up for Akron: The men travel to West Virginia this coming weekend to take on the Mon River Mudlobsters. Akron will be looking to get back on track with a big win over the cellar dwelling Mon River squad.
Founded in 1971, the Akron Rugby Football Club has a long tradition of winning rugby. The club is open to anyone interested in learning more about rugby. No experience is necessary. To learn more about the Akron Rugby Football Club, please visit their website at www.akronrugby.com
This past Saturday, the Akron Rugby Football Club’s hopes of a third straight Midwest playoff berth took a major hit. The club travelled across the border to Pennsylvania to take on Erie. On a perfect day for rugby, Akron fell victim to a very biased Erie referee and ultimately lost the match by a narrow 15-14 margin. The close score compounded the woes for Akron as even with the cards stacked against them, the match was still theirs to win.
The match started out hot and heavy as both clubs traded shots. The defenses held strong and neither club could mount any sort of sustained offensive attack. Akron went into the match looking to get the ball wide to their backs while Erie focused on driving the ball up the middle of the pitch with their forwards. Erie did an excellent job covering their suspiciously narrow field, but Akron continued to force the ball out to their backs even though they had no room to run.
Erie would get on the scoreboard first as one of their players would intercept an Andy Gilbert pass and streak the length of the field. With one man to beat, the Erie player chipped the ball into the endzone and got a lucky bounce in his direction to put Erie up 5-0.
Akron’s lone scoring opportunity would come late in the half via a penalty kick. Inside center, Andrew Martin would miss the kick right and Erie would take their lead into halftime.
The second half would see the referee take more influence over the outcome of the match. Early in the half, a beautiful movement by Steve Karlovec put his brother Robert into the open field for what appeared to be a certain try, but the ref would call the play back. To make matters worse, the ref would then realize his mistaken call and apologize to the Akron squad for costing them a score. Akron would get on the board shortly thereafter. With a series of ball retention Akron would move the ball deep into Erie territory. Prop, Scott Whitney would take the ball off the base of a ruck and rumble 20 meters for a try. Grant Johnson would convert the try to give Akron a 7-5 lead.
Erie would bounce back within minutes and slot a penalty goal to retake the lead at 8-7. The match would return to a defensive battle for the next twenty minutes before Erie got another lucky bounce on a kick deep into Akron territory. The ball would find its way back into Erie hands and Erie would use the momentum to push their forwards over for another score. The conversion kick appeared to push left, but the Erie line judge ruled the kick good and Erie took a commanding 15-7 lead with less than ten minutes to play.
Akron would mount another scoring opportunity when Joe Trunkett offloaded to Andrew Martin, who got the ball to Brian Racin with an open sideline to the endzone. Unfortunately, the referee would call the play back for a forward pass and Akron would miss out on another scoring opportunity. With less than five minutes left in the match Akron made a final push deep into Erie territory. Prop, Mike Manuel took a quick tap on an Erie penalty, took on three Erie defenders and passed to Ted Hardy who crashed over for the score. Andrew Martin converted the score to put the score at 15-14 with minutes left to play.
With one last chance to salvage victory, Akron took the kickoff from Erie, but turned the ball over immediately. Erie kicked to touch and sealed their victory. It was a very disappointing loss for Akron and one that could ultimately cost them a place in the playoffs. The Akron defense played very hard the entire match with many players contributing with solid efforts. The Akron offensive attack was lacking throughout the match and adjustments weren’t made. It was a very surprising twist as the Akron offensive attack has been solid throughout the year.
The loss leaves Akron at 1-2 in league play (11-8-1 overall). Erie sits atop the Eastern Division standings with a 3-0 record. Akron will now need to win their remaining three league matches and need some help to get back into the playoffs.
Final Score
Erie 15 Akron 14
Akron Lineup
1: Manuel 2: Hillebrecht 3: Whitney (Perko @ 60) 4: Trunkett 5: S. Karlovec 6: Langenbeck 7: R. Karlovec 8: Hardy 9: Gilbert 10: Johnson (Jackson @ 70) 11: DiFrancesco 12: Martin (Capt) 13: Rector 14: Racin 15: Rotili
Akron Scoring
Tries: Whitney, Hardy
Conversions: Johnson 1 for 1, Martin 1 for 1
Penalty: Martin 0 for 1
Erie Scoring
2 tries, conversion, penalty
The Akron B side bounced back and salvaged the day with a solid 12-0 victory over Erie’s B side. To no one’s surprise the referee from the A side match turned around and suited up for Erie in the B side match. Yeah, real nice. Regardless, this gave the Killer B’s a chance to exact some revenge and they did so in fine fashion. Robert Jackson led the charge for the B’s with hard running and even harder tackling all match long. Jackson would score both of the B’s tries and Tom Cody would add a conversion in the winning effort.
Next up for Akron: The men travel to West Virginia this coming weekend to take on the Mon River Mudlobsters. Akron will be looking to get back on track with a big win over the cellar dwelling Mon River squad.
Founded in 1971, the Akron Rugby Football Club has a long tradition of winning rugby. The club is open to anyone interested in learning more about rugby. No experience is necessary. To learn more about the Akron Rugby Football Club, please visit their website at www.akronrugby.com
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