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Ok a bizarre weekend in general but let's take it from the top. We spent the weekend in South Philly where the right combo of wins would put us in very good position coming into the sweet 16s.
We get down to Philly to our luxury accommodations. We knew something was up when we saw some people just kind of hanging out at the hotel. Mind you not in the hotel but kind of on the front stoop. You know like when you go down Chapel a little too far. Anyway, we paid no mind. The room looked nice enough. So I plop down on the bed, since it was late, and you know how normally you bounce a bit. Imagine you were Fred Flintstone. Would you bounce on the bed? Hell no, and I should not have either. One broken rib and a displaced vertebrae later I was upside down on Jarod's crazy upside down trapeze thing, which god knows what he does with when alone. Not sure it helped but considering there were no Friday beers the head rush was pretty cool. Back to bed and in order to get some fresh Jersey/ south Philly air, ok I know that sounds stupid now, I opened the window. The window was closed after hearing the third domestic dispute and second gun shot. We were on the 15th floor, but you can never be too safe these days.
Morning came and we decided to hit the Diner, where we discovered the real deal. Apparently the hotel is actually Section 8 housing. Nothing wrong with that and all but if someone told me $80 a night for section 8 or $100 for the Holiday Inn, I am thinking me and 50 cent will be hanging at the Holiday Inn.
Ok so onto the Match.
Schuylkill River provided the team with a great test after a week off and an easy win over the Yankees. The team had a bigger pack then us (oh yeah so does the local High School) a seven foot jumper, a #10 with a great foot and a #12 that was a knee and back buckling (trust me) 240 lbs or more. Like always though the Old Blacks brought a toughness that would be hard to match anywhere in the country. In the first 30 seconds of the game Leo threw some meatballs at the weak side wing (Tangy Barbeque if my sense of smell is correct) blinding him momentarily, and then ran through and past nearly the entire side before off loading to Ewan the Animal Steele for a quick try.
The Old Black pack and backs put the Schuylkill team under a ton of pressure all day and although the #10 had a nice foot the #12 decided it would be good fun to have a try at it. So like any good inside center he tried it from around his try line. The outcome was obvious as a wobbly kicked almost made it the 22 before being scooped up by me for an easy run in try 10-0.
The remainder of the half included some tough defense and a lot of chasing long wind-aided kicks from the #10. Some nice phase ball was negated by mistakes and misfortune included a long break by the inside backs and offload to Jacko that was called back for a forward pass. The team was victimized by being a bit too anxious and jumping the offside lines and trying to dig out already won rucks. SchukUkly (Seriously who beside can spell that correctly more than once) River capitalized with 3 penalty kicks and closed the half down 10-9.
The second half saw another quick start from the Old Blacks and Matt Pick's blocked kick in the River's 22 gave the team the opportunity to put together some quick phases and Vic put in a tough try near the posts. The next ten minutes saw a very stingy defense, led by Victor and Ewan, generally shove around the River club as they did not make it much past the 22. With the wind at our backs Brendan Leahy drove kick after kick down their throats until we were able to capitalize on some mistakes and Pablo shot through an open gap and slipped past three or four defenders to put in another try 24-9.
With River reeling the forwards started really punishing them as Big Daddy, Matty, and Ewan start taking a ton of ball and hammering the fringes. 10 minutes later Vic puts in another try through some crazy penalty play coach devised. Side note; I saw this play on Tuesday and thought I joined a soccer team. The guys all stood in a line with their backs to the defense, like a penalty kick, and even covered their best assets. Mind you no one was kicking a ball at them and I really think that they were bored and needed somewhere to put their hands. Fair enough as we all do it every Sunday anyway. Thankfully no one was scratching.....I digress.
Enter stage right......Trapper Joe. The ref showed up in Trapper's way too tight and colorful jersey. This bad boy had colors that even rainbow's don't have and although he was not of huge girth he could have used an extra X in the jersey size. Now the rest of his actions have no direct correlation to anything that I know of Trapper I just thought it was best to provide a good visual.
So Joe decided that no one was paying enough attention to him and the best way to correct this was to start making up rules and when he could not do that then he would just raise his hand like Horseshack and see if he could make a game of it. So a yellow card and 542 penalties later the River team puts in 2 tries. I mean at one point it was our ball and we had a nice clean ruck and all of a sudden this guy is blowing his whistle like one of those guys out in front of the marching band. Then he would run to an arbitrary spot on the filed and award a penalty for playing too well. Our team did a great job keeping composure mostly because we were at a loss for words. Just classic stuff. Later at the bar I think I saw him try to jack the bartenders tip jar, citing her for being way too hot. Anyway great composure and tough defense let New Haven hang on for a hard fought 31-19 win.
The guys retired to the hotel to shower up and then join Schuylkill River at their bar. On arrival at O'Neal's on South Street some of the guys' eyes lit up like kids in a candy store. Being accustomed to the fun but limited stretch of night life in New Haven the guys were impressed by the seemingly endless street of bars, restaurants, stores, and tattoo shops. Thanks to some good planning the team was not distracted by this too much because we all left shortly after arrival to return to South Philly for dinner at a restaurant inside the new Citizen's bank Ballpark. Dinner was uneventful accept for Leo stocking up on some snacks for later and half the team skipping dinner to observe the bartender on the other side of the place. Most of the players retired to the hotel early to rest up for the match against the Wolfhounds (again) the next day.
Editor's note: there is a great story from Saturday night/Sunday morning missing here. If you want to hear it just ask Chris or Jason, who are now closer than ever. The rest will stay unmentioned - what happens on tour...
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Match Results
