NYAC win in sudden death overtime
Tue, 03 Jun 2008 13:35
The New York Athletic Club (NYAC) edged Belmont Shore in a thrilling Final of the United States Super League, but not before NYAC and their Long Beach rivals found themselves in two periods of overtime.
In the end NYAC finished Belmont off with a penalty kick, giving them the 31-28 win in sudden death.
In fact, it seemed to be a match built around penalty kicks, as the first nine points and the last nine points of the match were all contingent on that scoring method.
Boston Shore kicked it off, literally, with fullback Valanese Malifa scoring six early points for the Whalers. NYAC responded with their own by Luke Milton at six minutes, but later at 22 minutes NYAC scored its first try of the game and controlled an obvious momentum shift.
Jackson Wagener started the East Coast team out, touching one down for NYAC, while Luke Milton converted to give NYAC its first lead of the match at 10-6. NYAC's second try by Christian Mayo came just five minutes later and helped boost their lead to 17-6 before Belmont Shore's Henry Bloomfield scored a try in the last moments of the first half.
With only six points between them, both teams came out in the second half ready to play and in fact, held each other scoreless for the next 16 minutes. Justin Hundley jumpstarted the scoring sequence for NYAC, as he scored a drop goal and a try to make the lead 25-11. Belmont Shore obviously wouldn't go down easily, however, and scored 14 consecutive points to bring the game to a tie at 25 and push the match into overtime.
From there on out, it was once again all about the penalty kicks as neither team would be able to finish an offensive effort for more than three points. Both Milton and Malifa added one in their overtime halves, and as time ran out in their sudden death, Milton added the game winning kick at goal.
"At the end, it was such a see-saw match," NYAC's Mike Tolkin said.
"Our guys were on their last legs and had to dig really deep for that final push. They held on and proved they had the mental toughness they needed to pull out the win.
"We lost to Belmont Shore earlier this year, but we stepped it up and didn't allow them to push us around like they did before. We have to give their team credit, though, they never gave up and continued to make it as hard as possible for us. That is why they make the Championships year after year," Tolkin added. "they are always consistently strong and will overpower you in the mauls."
The Super League is the premier rugby league in the United States and although it isn't necessarily run by the same competitive structure as the rest of USA Rugby's divisional club competition, it has in the past chose to hold its finals at the USA Rugby Men's Club Championships, making this event for USA Rugby, just that much more anticipated.
* Meanwhile Life University held on to defeat the Glendale Raptors, 15-14, in the USA Men's Club Division I Championships at Glendale's Infinity Park.
"Glendale did a good job pressuring us," Life's player/coach Scott Lawrence said. "I am just happy to have walked away one point ahead. I attribute a lot of it to our strength and conditioning program. Our team works unbelievably hard during the season and our goal is to come alive in the last 20 minutes."
Both teams played tough defence and the match remained scoreless until, in the 34th minute, Glendale scored their first converted try. Life countered in the second half, and then went on to score the next 15 points to take an eight-point lead over the home crowd favourite. In the very last minute of the game, however, Glendale came back to score a converted try. It brought the Raptors to within one, but as time ran out, Life University was still on top.
This win marks the team's first title in Division I in its long and established history. In comparison, the Raptors, who are just finishing their second full season as a club, also mark their best finish as runners-up.
The Division I consolation match pit Pearl City against the top-seeded Olympic Club. Both teams were coming off a tough semifinal battle and it was the Olympic Club that held its composure and walked away with the third-place finish, beating the Iowa-based club, 49-17.
Red Mountain clinched the Division II National Championship with its convincing 41-18 win over the top-seeded Brandywine side in today's afternoon match. Red Mountain actually led 17-8 at halftime and never looked back, scoring another 17 consecutive points in the second half en route to its first National Championship title, as well.
"We came out extremely aggressive and were able to maintain that level throughout," Red Mountain Coach Kevin Torkelson said. "We have been in three USA Rugby National Championships now, and we know what to expect. I think that kind of experience helps in a number of ways.
"I have to give Brandywine credit, though, they really stayed after it the whole time and in both of our games this weekend - the score didn't necessarily reflect the difficulty of our competition.
That was also true in the Division II consolations, as the Wisconsin side beat Detroit in the day's first match 24-16.
In Division III, the Reno Zephyrs marked their second Championship title in just six years, beating Michiana 31-27, in match that came down to the wire.
"It was a good, exciting game and we were very evenly matched," Coach Rich Lair said. "They played really quick ball and we played good defence on our part. We really owe a lot of our team's success to Nelo Lui, (this year's DIII MVP). He leads the squad on and off the field and has a lot to do with our improved conditioning."
According to Nelo, he advised the squad to forget what had happened throughout the season, and just focus on making the most out of this Championship match. "In most of our matches this year, we would get a bit sloppy towards the end. This time, our last 20 minutes worked out for us."
