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.

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