Falcons fly past Hawks into the Final
Wed, 30 Jul 2008 09:54
Propelled by flyhalf Zach Pangelinan, the United States (US) Falcons brought down the US Hawks 30-12 as the North America Four semifinals wrapped up at Glendale's Infinity Park.
The third-seeded US Hawks came out looking to avenge a 24-39 loss at the Falcons' hands in the earlier rounds, and caught an early opportunity to go ahead when a penalty went in their favour. However, centre Mike Graham's kick was no good, leaving the tally at nil–nil as the Falcons opening intensity continued to mount.
"The team started well," US Falcons head coach Ray Lehner said.
"Our primary goal was to start really hard in the first 20 minutes – and we achieved just that; however, the 20 minutes outside of half-time were a bit dull in spots – but our flyhalf Zach Pangelinan definitely impressed out there today."
As the physical first half pressed on, the Falcons continued to attack and eventually broke through holes in the Hawks' defence when Sevens teammates Jason Pye and Jone Naqica paired up for a try on the outside to put the Falcons out in front early, 7-0 following a successful conversion from Pangelinan.
With not more than another minute in the books, the Falcons would return to the same corner, this time with captain Rikus Pretorius finishing the sensational run with a dive to the back corner to grow his team's lead by another five points. Pangelinan's kick just narrowly missed, to set the scoreline at 12-0.
But the Hawks still kept in the slow battle toward the try line. Following a nice piece of running by wing Mark Bokhoven, the Hawks ventured into their own territory as the clocked ticked toward 30 minutes but were stopped short, until the ball was cycled out to Owen Collins who at last touched down to put his team on the board 12-5 with 10 minutes remaining in the first half.
The Falcons, however, would have the last say before switching sides, when the ball again found the hands of Jone Naqica, who dished off to James Gillenwater on the outside for a try inside 34 minutes. Neither team would score again until the 47th minute when Falcons flyhalf Zach Pangelinan's consistent boot brought the half-time tally to 20-5 with a penalty kick.
After the break, the Hawks struggled to get their offense going and defensive errors proved equally costly, allowing the Falcons' Pangelinan another penalty opportunity at 63 minutes, which grew the deficit to 18 points.
As the game wound down, the young Pangelinan would shine once more for the Falcons, chipping ahead to veteran Jone Naqica, who got off a quick pop pass to Pangelinan to finish the team's scoring drive at 30 points, with a try and his own conversion.
Yet, in spite of a lacklustre overall team effort, Hawks newcomer Hanno Dirksen helped bring some fresh legs to the team's backline. The 17-year-old flyhalf/centre thoroughly impressed his coaches and teammates alike with his ability to control the game in the second half.
"We played a slow paced game and never got anything going. We had a couple of great opportunities that we couldn't convert into points," Hawks head coach Marty Wiggins said following the match.
"I have to give kudos to the Falcons, who really put their shoulder to the wheel – which was something we couldn't quite do."
"One bright spot for us was Hanno Dirksen, who came in at wing and moved to flyhalf. He showed great skills and proved it was a good decision on our part to bring him in following the Age-Grade camp," Wiggins added.
Hawks captain Mike Petri shared Wiggins' sentiment, adding: "Hanno came in and put it all out there – I was thoroughly impressed with him. And that's just what our country needs – kids like him coming up through the system at such a young age."
Inside 77 minutes, the Hawks made a last stitch comeback effort, when Chad Erskine crossed the line for a try and the successful conversion left the final score at 30-12 in the Falcons favour.
"We were happy to get a win," Falcons captain Rikus Pretorius said.
"The team gave a gutsy performance out there today and we have a lot of respect for the other team - they've got so many great players."
With the victory, the Falcons now advance to face Canada West in the NA4 Final on Saturday, August 2 - while the US Hawks take the field in the consolation Final against Canada East, again at Infinity Park.
"We have to learn from our mistakes, pick up and go from here," Petri said. "While we're disappointed, the tournament's not over. We play our eastern rival in the consolation finals and that's a big game for us- we're looking forward to it."
Scorers:
US Falcons:
Tries: Naqica, Pretorius, Gillenwater, Pangelinan
Cons: Pangelinan 2
Pens: Pangelinan 2
US Hawks:
Tries: Collins, Erskine
Con: Graham
Teams:
US Falcons: 15 Jone Naqica, 14 Jason Pye, 13 Alipate Tuilevuka, 12 Gary Golding, 11 James Gillenwater, 10 Zach Pangelinan, 9 Robbie Shaw, 8 Matt Hawkins, 7 Rikus Pretorius (captain), 6 Scott LaValla, 5 Ben Wiedemer, 4 Louis Stanfill, 3 Shawn Pittman, 2 Joey Brown, 1 Mate Moeakiloa.
Replacements: 16 Mark Kernen, 17 Saimone Laulaupeaalu, 18 Samual Manoa, 19 Dan La Prevotte, 20 Mose Timoteo, 21 Tyson Meek, 22 Volney Rouse.
US Hawks: 15 Mark Roberts, 14 Mark Bokhoven, 13 Owen Collins, 12 Mike Graham, 11 Justin Boyd, 10 Chad Erskine, 9 Mike Petri (captain), 8 Josh Dean, 7 Jason Lett, 6 Travis Meidinger, 5 John Van der Giessen, 4 Brian Doyle, 3 Brian Lemay, 2 Phil Thiel, 1 Jon Vitale.
Replacements: 16 Phil Abraham, 17 Chad Slaby, 18 Pat Quinn, 19 Nic Johnson, 20 Keiki Misipeka, 21 Hanno
Dirksen, 22 Justin Hundley.
