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.

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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)

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

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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

Back at it

After the summer layoff, BW Eagles returned to Metro competition in order to hone their skills before the impending matches against New York and Philadelphia. This past Saturday, on a breezy 89 degree summer day in Bethesda, the Northern Virginia Hams took on the Capitol Punishment in a game that saw the Capitol Punishment smoked by the Hams.

The scoring came early and often for the Hams who had Baltimore loaner Dwayne Marshall working out of the middle account for 10 goals, Aaron Tyndall, also primarily working out of the middle added seven. Other multiple goal scorers for Northern Virginia included Cord Chase, Kevin Stanley, Kevin Smith, and Damien Moore (anyone else that scored, please feel free to contact me).

Down 42 - 7 at quarter-time, the Punishment rallied in the second quarter to pull within 25 due to strong play in the ruck, but saw that ground disappear as the Hams made adjustments in the second half.

With a dominant 210 - 52 win over the Punishment, the Hams have cemented their return to the Metro Grand Final this fall.

The Punishment has until this weekend to regroup when they will face the Baltimore Bhogans in hopes of moving up the ladder and another chance to face NoVa in the Grand Finals.

Current standings -

METRO 2007 LADDER
TEAM*GP* W * L * PTS * PF * PA * %
NVA *4 * 3 * 1 * 12 * 420 * 255 * 165
BAL * 3 * 1 * 2 * 4 * 199 * 163 * 122
D.C. * 3 * 1 * 2 * 4 * 177 * 372 * 48

Baltimore Bohs wilt in the heat

The 90 degree heat worked against Baltimore on Saturday. See below for the story from the Baltimore/Washington Eagles Web site -

NORTHERN VIRGINIA SECURES FIRST WIN AGAINST RAGING BALTIMORE
Northern Virginia Ties The Ladder Up With Come From Behind Victory; 13.7 (85) to 9.4 (58)
Saturday, 02 June at West Potomac Park, Washington, DC - (Story contributed by Dave Schall)
After running into field space problem followed by more field space problem, the Eagles clamped down on a field Saturday that had to end regardless by 11:30a.m. What they crammed in a two and a half hour time frame was one game of Ausball, a full-team practice run and 3/4 of a close Metro game that saw Northern Virginia fight back to be in contention on the ladder against a strong Baltimore side.

With the stars aligning and both teams fielding nine of their own players, both teams took to the field hard in a heavy and humid environment. The scores were rapid and the action was non-stop as Baltimore took an early lead. Some great work by players like Mike LeValley, Steve Florence, PJ Anderer, and Danny Carr put the Baltimore side on the board and at the same time, stumping a hungry Northern Virginia offense.

For the second quarter, Northern Virginia shifted things into a whole other gear. Spearheading the effort, veteran players James Boyd, Greg Borchardt, Kevin Stanley and Cord Chase all made the plays that needed to be made and brought things a lot closer and more difficult for Baltimore. Stealing a two-point margin, the third and final quarter would prove to be anyone's game.

Luckily for Northern Virginia, Aaron Tyndall, RJ Wheelock and even first-time player Ryan all played some of the best football this Metro year has seen. The hits were hard, the talk was great and the goal kicking was nearly spot on every time. Ending the game, the players from both sides had given it their all and clearly have their eyes set on a second round of intense Metro competition as well as the upcoming EAFL games against North Carolina and Boston.

>>QUARTER SCORES:

TEAMS	1Q	2Q	3Q	4Q
NVA	2.3 (15)	7.5 (47)	13.7 (85)	X
BAL	4.2 (26)	7.3 (45)	9.4 (58)	X

>>GOAL SCORERS: A.Tyndall - NVA (5); S.Florence - BAL, J.Boyd - NVA (3); M.LeValley - BAL, D.Ryan - BAL, K.Stanley - NVA, G.Borchardt - NVA (2); D.Carr - BAL, D.Thompson - BAL, G.Wheelock - NVA, C.Chase - NVA (1); 4 Opposition Rushed Scores.

>>PLAYERS: BAL - J.Worner, D.Carr, K.Smith, P.Anderer, S.Frearson, M.LeValley, S.Florence, D.Thompson, D.Ryan, A.Pritchard, T.Goodman; NVA - R.Wheelock, J.Boyd, G.Wheelock, D.Moore, K.Stanley, G.Borchardt, A.Tyndall, C.Chase, G.Hamshar, Ryan ???; Umpires - D.Smith, M.Bishop, J.Engwerda, G.Elliott, C.Carroll; Scores - D.Schall, J.Mott

Baltimore remains ahead on percentage points -

METRO 2007 LADDER

TEAM	GP	W	L	PTS	PF	PA	%
BAL	2	1	1	4	151	113	134
NVA	2	1	1	4	154	155	99
DC	2	1	1	4	125	162	77

Photo for this story provided by Kelly Fowler.

Metro Preview: Bohemians to take on NoVa in DC on Saturday

A quick hit on what Metro Footy is - in the United States, various metropolitan area teams such as the two I have played for - Philadelphia Hawks (originally the Crows), and the Baltimore/Washington Eagles set up metro leagues. Metro is like scrimmaging - the team splits into three or four smaller teams, (sometimes more, depending on numbers) in order to play nine on nine, or eleven on eleven footy in order to sharpen skills.

Currently the BWEagles have three metro teams - Baltimore, Washington, and Northern Virginia. Tomorrow the 1-0 Baltimore squad will face off in a steamy match along the Potomac in Washington DC against the 0-1 Northern Virginia squad.

Baltimore has the experience, but NoVa has the younger team with the greater speed. Will that be enough for Virginia to break into the win column?

Week one of the Metro season saw DC beat NoVa 14.13 (97) to 10.9 (69). In the next match, Baltimore dominated DC 14.9 (93), to 4.4 (28). Can the Bohemians keep their momentum up against last year's metro finalist after beating last year's champs?

As long as the Bohemians can slow the game down with clean marks and handballs, they will have every chance to win the game. If they let the game turn into a footrace, then it favors the younger Virginia squad.

METRO 2007 LADDER

TEAM	GP	W	L	PTS	PF	PA	%
BAL	1	1	0	4	93	28	332
DC	2	1	1	4	125	162	77
NVA	1	0	1	0	69	97	71