Another beautiful day in Colorado for a game of “footie”. Queen City Rams D4 squad ventured to Superior Colorado to do battle with the Marauders RFC in a D4 league match. There was cloud cover making the temperature ideal. The turf field at Williams Park was a bit narrow and short and it was marked for gridiron. The team decked out in their white visiting jerseys were led out by Captain Chris Cummins and Vice-Captain Austin Cagaanan. Once again, a tale of two halves for the Rams as they built a big lead in the first half and escaped with a victory when the Marauders missed the final conversion kick to seal the win for the ‘Men in White’. The Rams kicked-off to start the match and defended the south in-goal.

From a penalty kick, Flyhalf Lewis McKissick placed the ball into touch. The lineout was cleanly won, and the drive was on however the maul was stopped and the ball recycled. A couple of phases later Hooker Jon Wicklund found a huge gap in the Marauders defense and went on a jaunt. Finally stopped Jon offloaded to a supporting No. 8 Ed Doka. From the ensuing breakdown Prop “Babs” Yarbrough executed a pick and go, then spotted a lurking Scrumhalf Kris Coleman who crashed over for the first points of the day. Flyhalf McKissick added the extras for a 0 – 7 lead for the visitors at the 12-minute mark of the match.

The ‘Men in Black’ came right back on a couple of long breaks from missed tackles by Queen City Rams, as Marauder Lock Forward Elizondo dotted down and Scrumhalf DiMeo added the extras to knot the score at 7 apiece at the 19th minute.

Referee Peter Steinberg spotted a ruck infringement by the Marauders. Flyhalf McKissick placed the pill into touch for a 5-meter lineout. Executing a lineout call to maul, the Rams drove the lineout into the in-goal with resistance from the opposition. Flanker Evan Mohagen dotted down for the 5-pointer. Flyhalf McKissick split the up-rights from a tough angle to bring the score line to 7 – 14 at the 31-minute mark of the match.

Referee Steinberg whistled City for a ruck infraction and the Marauders opted to quick tap. The ball was distributed out to the backs where City’s center Mars Tweed, stripped the ball. It was recycled to Flyhalf McKissick who placed a deep kick into Marauders territory, with the ensuing pressure by Queen City Fullback Devin Toth. The Marauders were able to maintain possession and place a kick back to a waiting McKissick. Lewis stepped and fended his way through Marauders defense to break free to dot down for his first of three tries. Lewis also converted his own try to run the score to 7 – 21 at the 36th minute.

From one of the few miscues by City in the first half saw the ball placed in to the Marauders hands. Referee Steinberg once again whistled City for a ruck infringement.

Marauders placed the ball into touch. Lock Matt Hurley stole the lineout and the Rams were back in business. Recycling the ball back and forth across the field, the Rams forwards were maintaining excellent possession of the ball. Finally, Flyhalf McKissick spotted the seam in the Marauders defense to crash over in the corner for his second try. Lewis once again converted from a tough angle to give the Rams a 7 – 28 half time lead as Referee Steinberg tolled the half time bell after the kick.

The ‘Men in White’ took the restart and preceded to march down the field. A mishandling of the ball gave the Marauders a scrum deep in their own territory. Good defensive pressure by City saw a clearing kick blocked. The opposition were able to recover to clear their line. The ensuing lineout was won, and a set play was called by Captain Cummins. The ball was able to be recycled for a couple of good phases, Flyhalf McKissick took the recycled ball and the Gloucester lad went on one of his patented rambles to dot down for his third try on the day. Splitting the uprights for extras drove the score line to 7 – 35 at the 44th minute.

From here the wheels started to fall off for the Rams. The miscues and penalties started to pile up and the Marauders started to solve the City defense and attack the “A” gap with proficiency. The Marauders No. 8 Goodfriend scored two consecutive tries of which both were converted by scrumhalf DiMeo at the 50th minute and the 67th minute to bring the score to 21 – 35.

Continuing to hammer at the Rams line, saw another try scored by Marauders Flanker Paradowski as he ran right up the “A” channel to score untouched which was again converted by Scrumhalf DiMeo. This closed the gap to 28 – 35 with 5 minutes left in the game.

In a desperate effort to close out the match, City kept ringing up the penalties giving the Marauders hope. The final penalty came with no time on the clock and the Marauders elected to kick for touch. The Rams lineout defense was strong, forcing the Marauders to swing the ball wide. Soiree after soiree was thrown at the City line but the ‘Men in White’ were able to repel the assault. Finally, a slight seam was spotted by the Marauders; and they were able to punch it over in the corner to bring the score to 33 – 35 with the conversion to follow. Unfortunately for the Marauders, the kick sailed wide to seal the victory for the Rams and a sigh of relief for the Queen City supporters.

A hard-fought victory in a very close match! Three cheers to Marauders for coming back and making it a close match. Thank you to all the Olde Boys and supporters who turned out to cheer on the ‘Men in White’. Both squads are now 2 – 0 in league play. Lock forward Matt Hurley playing in his first full match took home the ‘Man-of-the-Match’ for his excellent play at lineouts, kick-offs, and loose play. Jon Wicklund took home the ‘Forward Player-of-the-Game’ for his hard running and accurate throws in the lineouts. Center Chris Burpee collected the ‘Back Player-of-the-Game’ for his excellent defense and hard tackling. Congratulations to all the recipients. Next week are D3 and D4 matches at the Laramie Lumberjacks.

After match thoughts from Prop Joe Kuka, “This was too close for comfort. We got a lot accomplished today. There were a lot of guys that got their first run especially the DU boys. We got things to work on, but they are fixable. A good W.” Captain Chris Cummins said “It was a tale of two halves, we came out playing hard matching their advances. We executed lots of phases and was able get the DU boys some game time. On reflection making the mass of changes did affect our game in the second half which gave the Marauders a chance to come back into the game. However, we got the result and now have more players with more minutes under their belts which will only help us in the future”

Teams:

Queen City (35): Joe Kuka, Jon Wicklund, Andrew Yarbrough, Mate Feldman, Matt Hurley, Evan Mohagen, Austin Cagaanan (VC), Ed Doka, Kris Coleman, Lewis McKissick, Manny Appiah, Chris Burpee, Mars Tweed, John Armstrong, Devin Toth; Interchange: Chris Cummins ( C ) (40), Bryan Gustafson (40), Mike Anderson (53), Tommy Epling (53), Eli Bucksbaum (57), Dong Dinh (65), Ami Felson (65), Kevin Chui (75).

Scorers:

Tries: Coleman (12), Mohagen (31), McKissick 3 (36, 39, 44)

Goals: McKissick 5 from 5

Marauders (33): Robert Harris, Richard Potter, Andres Barandiaran, Aleczander Kersen, Santos Elizondo, William Bradley, Anthony Paradowski, John Goodfriend, Giancarlo DiMeo, Larry Ramey, Keith Slate, Andrew Hutchinson, Ryan Land, Jacob Schmitz, Logan Harris; Interchange: Armando Salcido (40), William Cross (55), Michael Floren (60), Conner Samide (70), Tyler Bame (75).

Scorers:

Tries: Elizondo (19), Goodfriend 2 (50, 67), Paradowski (75), Land (80)

Goals: DiMeo 4 from 5

Man-of-the-Match: Matt Hurley

Scoring sequence: 0 – 7, 7 – 7, 7 – 14, 7– 21, 7 – 28, 7 – 35, 14 – 35, 21 – 35, 28 – 35, 33 - 35

Penalty Count: 10 – 15

Yellow/Red Card: None

Referee: Pete Steinberg

Match details

Match date

Sat 29 Sep 2018

Kickoff

13:00

Team overview