New York...it's a helluva town

I started playing this game in 1999. Since then I have never been on the winning end of even a quarter against the New York Magpies, let alone game...until today.

As of today, the Baltimore/Washington Eagles are the last unbeaten team in the EAFL with their win against the Magpies in New York.

The final score was

4.8.32 NY
11.11.77 BWE

Come back later in the week for a more in depth write-up and a look at the standings.

Baltimore scraps its way to the Metro Grand Final

Ganked from the Baltimore Washington Eagles site -

GETS GRAND FINAL SHOW WITH WIN - Contributed by Dave Schall, Secretary

With a valient effort, DC falls to Baltimore who will now face Northern Virginia in the 2007 BWE Metro Grand Final.

In the final regular season game of BWE metro competition, DC and Baltimore knew that they had to bring their A-game to the field. Winner of this game would move on to face a powerful Northern Virginia side in the BWE Metro Grand Final on September 15th. Loser would watch from the sidelines.

Having been decimated the previous weekend by the Northern Virginians, DC's players drew first blood hoping that an early lead and some solid defense could put Baltimore in quite a hole. Some great goals by Cord Chase and Garth Elliott made sure that it was Baltimore who had to react first. In the middle of the ground, play was sluggish with players going half hearted at the ball, perhaps holding back knowing that a EAFL match against New York was on the not-so-distant horizon.

Second quarter saw more of the same, though intensity started to pick up near the tail-end of the quarter. Great defense work by the likes of Jake Engwerda, Matty Bishop, Jonny Mott and Dave Schall kept the ball on the down low versus potential threats in Dwayne Marshall, Steve Florence and RJ Wheelock. Hard work in the middle too by Kevin Stanley, Aaron Pritchard, Tony Goodman and new players Rod and Wes made sure that the offense had ample time to get the ball and shoot for goals.

Being down ten points at the half, Baltimore awoke with a mighty roar. Learning their lesson to aim for Wheelock in the goal squares rather than peppering shots from all angles of the DC backline, they managed to pull ahead with a ten-point lead of their own. Wheelock went on to boot eight goals on the day, taking advantage of his speed and agility as Shane Frearson, Denis Ryan and Greg Borchardt gave him plenty to go on.

In a hole, DC gave it their all knowing full well that Baltimore was ready to hold fast to their new-found lead. Kevin Smith and PJ Anderer set up some great plays for the forwards as "solid as a rock" Micky Dunne held off a hungry DC offense to just bare bones. Also, some great stuff in the center from ruck Geoff Hamshar who made sure all of his taps fell into the waiting arms of his Baltimore brethren.

Overall, a close match between two competitive sides. It took awhile to get the engines on both machines working, but when things kicked in, there was promise at all ends of the field. With no injuries to report, the Eagles will be looking forward to a great weekend in New York followed by a weekend off (Labor Day) and then a return to action versus Philadelphia in Philly.

-

QUARTER SCORES:
01Q: DC 4.3 (27) to BAL 2.5 (17); 02Q: DC 9.5 (59) to BAL 7.7 (49); 03Q: BAL 11.10 (76) to DC 10.6 (66); 04Q: BAL 12.10 (82) to DC 11.10 (76)

-

GOALS:
BAL: R.Wheelock (8); Marshall (2); Borchardt, Florence, Frearson (1)
DC: Elliott (5); Chase (4); Pritchard, Rod ??? (1)

-

PLAYERS:
BAL: Anderer, Borchardt, Dunne, Florence, Frearson, Hamshar, Marshall, Ryan, Smith, Wheelock

DC: Bishop, Chase, Elliott, Engwerda, Goodman, Mott, Pritchard, Schall, Stanley, Wes ??, Rod ??
Umpires - Carroll, Moore, Tyndall

Metro Standings and game results
Ladder		W	L	D	F	A	%	pts
NVA	4	3	1	0	450	257	175	12
BAL	4	2	2	0	281	239	118	8
DC	4	1	3	0	255	484	53	4
Legend: P = played W = won L = lost D = draw F = points for A = points against % = percentage pts = league points

BWE 2007 METRO Fixture
DaResults	Teams		Report
12 MAY	DC: 97	NVA: 69	report
19 MAY	BAL: 93	DC: 28	report
02 JUN	NVA: 91	BAL: 58	report
07 JUL	NVA: 50	BAL: 48	report
11 AUG	NVA: 240	DC: 54	report
18 AUG	BAL: 82	DC: 76	report
15 SEP	BWE Metro Grand Final

And in other news concerning the Eagles -

National Rankings -

Rank	Team	W-L Record	Votes/Change
1.	San Diego Lions	4-0	10 #1 Votes
2.	Denver Bulldogs	3-1
3.	New York Magpies	2-0
4.	BW Eagles	3-0	UP from 5
5.	Golden Gate Roos	1-1	DOWN from 4
6.	OC Bombers	1-3
7.	Chicago United	3-0	UP from 9
8.	Boston Demons	1-1	DOWN from 7
9.	Atlanta Kookaburras	4-1	UP from 10
10.	Minnesota Freeze	2-1	IN

Official Score and updated standings

23 JUNE 2007 (at Washington, DC)

Baltimore Washington Eagles 13.19 (97) to Boston Demons 10.9 (69)

23 JUNE 2007 (at Durham, North Carolina)

New York Magpies (72) to North Carolina Tigers (41)

EAFL 2007 LADDER

TEAM	GP	W	L	PTS	PF	PA	%
BWE	2	2	0	8	206	97	212
PHI	1	1	0	4	82	35	234
NYM	1	1	0	4	72	41	176
BOS	1	0	1	0	69	97	71
NCT	3	0	3	0	104	263	40

Birds of prey tear up Tigers

The Baltimore/Washington Eagles were able to build on the momentum of their win of the friendly match in North Carolina by beating the visiting Tigers 17.7 (109) to 4.4 (28). The victory over the North Carolina Tigers in the first EAFL game of the season puts the Eagles squarely on top of the standings for their next match against the Boston Demons.

The Tigers came up for battle, but the Eagles struck early and often, dominating possession out of the ruck while racking up eight goals in the first quarter.

The Eagles, last year's division II champion at Nationals in Las Vegas extended the team's current win streak to eight (including the friendly a month ago in North Carolina). The next big challenge for the club will be to host the Boston Demons who are traveling to DC on Saturday, June 23rd.

The Tigers severely damaged their chances of competing in division one at the Nationals this year by racking up not one, but two Eastern Australian Football League losses on Saturday. After dropping the first match to the Eagles, the Tigers took on the Philadelphia Hawks.

After a fairly even first quarter during which former Philadelphia coach Andy Lochhead noted that the Hawks were fielding a largely inexperienced squad, missing veteran defenseman Greg Hodur, midfield standout Liam McGroaty, and fellow Aussie and former team captain Pete Tingate, Philadelphia began pulling away.

With a final of 11.16 (82) to 4.11 (35), North Carolina had opportunities, but not accuracy, as it often squandered chances wide, or short, allowing the Hawks backline to make the plays.

EAFL 2007 LADDER

TEAM GP W L PF PA % BWE 1 1 0 109 28 389 PHI 1 1 0 82 35 234 NCT 2 0 2 63 191 33 BOS - - - - - - NYM - - - - - -

EAFL 2007 SCORES & GAME SYNOPSIS

BWE 17.7 (109) to NCT 4.4 (28) - EAFL GAME #1 PHI 11.16 (82) to NCT 4.11 (35) - EAFL GAME #2

BWE PERFORMANCE IN 2007 EAFL GAMES

Name Goals Name Played Florence 6 21 players 1 Carroll 5 - - Marshall Tyndall 3 Elliott Wheelock, R. Worner 2 - Borchardt Stanley Thompson 1 - -

At my signal, unleash hell...

Tomorrow marks the official beginning of the EAFL season with our home game against the North Carolina Tigers. With it, so does positioning for the Nationals in October.

Last season our sole win was against Philadelphia at the end of the season.

A month ago we played what amounted to a very physical pre-season game against the NC Tigers with only three people coming off our bench to about ten for the Tigers. We walked away with a 2-behind win.

North Carolina should be coming with a smaller and overall older contingent than it had on its home ground as the team in the spring and fall is populated by a number of the college students that attend the Universities in the area the team calls home. Eagles coaches aren't expecting anything easy tomorrow as the Eagles have been plagued over the last two years by inconsistent play and slow starts.

The last two weeks of metro matches, coaches have put an emphasis on starting fast, keeping the intensity up and winning the ruck.

Results will be posted at the end of the weekend, including NC's second game of the day, an EAFL match against the Philadelphia Hawks.

Contact with the motherland

My wife, who takes photos at the games I play in (when she is able to attend), posts the photos at the flickr site. It seems an Aussie gentleman from Adelaide stumbled across Kelly's shots, unaware that the game was played stateside and invited her to post as part of a group that post footy pictures.

Seeing as the players are more skilled and the action more intense in Oz, I think you will find that Cory has had better opportunity to get some great shots of the game (this is not a knock on my wife, who I think is an excellent photographer, it's just harder to make a club sport look on par with the pros).

If you like these pics, then, by all means, visit Cory's flickr site. There are other shots of the AFL in action there.

In other news, the Eastern Australian Football League (EAFL) kicks off this Saturday for the BW Eagles against the North Carolina Tigers in Poolesville, MD. It is a rematch of a friendly played in Durham, NC about a month ago.

Additional notes from the BWE Home office -

Eagles and Supporters,

Welcome to the start of the EAFL footy season for the Eagles. After traveling to North Carolina just a few short weeks ago, the Tigers return the favor and head north to take on the Eagles in Round 1 of the EAFL comp. As an added bonus, the Tigers will also take on the Philly Hawks in game two of the day.

Add to that a children's clinic that will be run between games and you have a full day of footy to take in. Please contact Chris Adams (christopher_ p_adams@hotmail. com) if you or your little one would like to participate. For more information on Chris' efforts with the USFooty Kids program, please see www.dcfootykids. blogspot. com.

We will be in picturesque Poolesville, MD for the day. The field is adjacent to the Capitol Polo Ground (where the Metro Grand Final was played last year). The map to the ground is below.

http://maps. live.com/ ?v=2&sp=Point. qhgztk8jgg71_ Poolesville% 2C%20Maryland% 2C%20United% 20States_ __~Polygon. qhh40d8jgm8p_ qhgs6p8jgjbr_ qhgvxp8jg6h9_ qhh9q98jg81m_ qhh4xd8jgmp8_ qhh40d8jgm8p_ Footy%20Ground_ ___%230000FF_ %23008000_ 2pt_Single_ Solid_qhh1yz8jgg bw&encType= 1

The entrance to the ground, on the map is at the intersection of Hughes Road and Sugarland Road. We will have signs pointing your way as you come up along River Road from the Beltway.

The first game will start at noon. Kids clinic will begin between 1:30 and 2:00 and the Tigers/Hawks game will take place shortly there after or roughly 2:45pm. Eagles players should be at the ground by 10:30 to help with setup.

If we have the numbers on the day of we will also attempt to have an Ausball game.

Please note that this ground has been lent to us with the provision that we leave it as we found it. If we ever want to use this site again we have to take utmost care of it, meaning no garbage left behind and everyone needs to be considerate of the surrounding neighbors. Read between the lines but no BBQs and keep the drinking to a minimum if you just can't wait until the evening.

And speaking of the evening - we'll be heading back to the rooftop deck at RnR Lounge located at 717 6th Street N.W. Washington DC 20001. This is right next to the Verizon Center. Plenty of parking across the street in the Gallery Place garage or take Metro to Chinatown/Gallery Place on the red, yellow or green lines. Under 21s can get in but cannot drink to state the obvious.

Thanks all and I look forward to seeing you all out this Saturday!


Rob Brunton
President, Baltimore Washington Eagles
www.baltimoredceagles.com

Feel free to drop by the field and root us on if you're in the neighborhood.