OMBAC
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| OMBAC Gets Spanked By Aspen 41-24 (Suffers First Defeat of the Season) |
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6 May 2000 – Aspen, CO – Picturesque Aspen, Colorado was anything but
beautiful to the OMBAC rugby team today as they crashed to their
first loss of the season 41-24 to the high flying Gentlemen of
Aspen. The loss puts OMBAC at 4-1-1 in Super League play with one
game remaining while Aspen finished up its Super League regular
season a perfect 7-0.
In what was expected to be a close match between the two remaining undefeated teams in the competition quickly turned into a one-sided affair as Aspen, three-time defending National Champions and winners of the first Super League title in 1997, came out of the blocks quickly. Behind the powerful right boot of U.S. Eagle Mark Williams and their experienced and talented pack, Aspen jumped out to a 17-0 lead before OMBAC had a reply. Aspen’s strategy was skillfully repeated throughout the day – force a penalty, watch Williams kick it into one of the corners, win the lineout and have the pack drive it over. Time and time again OMBAC found themselves in the shadows of its own goal line with very few answers. And unlike the week before when OMBAC flattened the hard running Unicorns, today the tackles just weren’t there. OMBAC’s Kyle Aspinall made a small dent into the Aspen lead with a penalty kick but two more Gentlemen tries gave Aspen a commanding 26 point lead nearing the end of the half. OMBAC’s leading try scorer, Conrad Hodgson, tried to rally his troops with a score off a scrum move as the half came to a close but there was plenty of work ahead as Beach trailed 29-10 After a lackluster first half, OMBAC finally came to life in the second half but the lead was never seriously challenged. In fact, the lead ballooned once again to 26 points before OMBAC found the try zone as Hodgson notched his second of the match on a play that started 70 yards from the Aspen tryline. OMBAC caught the Gentlemen in a rare lapse of concentration as they took a quick tap penalty with Hodgson finishing off the last 40 yards. The teams traded further tries later in the half with Jon Lee accounting for OMBAC’s third of the afternoon to make the final score read Aspen 41 – OMBAC 24. "For whatever reason we were intimidated out there today," said OMBAC Director of Rugby, Bing Dawson. "We were missing some players from last week but there’s no reason why we should have been dominated like that. We didn’t start hitting rucks or making tackles until 50 minutes into the match." The players Dawson was referring to who missed the trip were Scott Bracken, Paul Jennings, Mala Delai, Aurelio Perez and Kenny Wilson. While Bracken, Jennings and Delai will be available for OMBAC’s Sweet Sixteen bid this coming weekend, Wilson’s season is done as he went down to injury against the Unicorns in the Southern California championship win. Guy Dotan also looks as if his season may be over as he broke his hand in the Aspen match while injury concerns are clouding Aurelio Perez’s availability as he has experienced some neck troubles. The loss to Aspen forces OMBAC to gain either a win or draw against much improved Old Puget Sound Beach in Seattle on May 20 to advance to the Super League Final Four. If OMBAC does get the two points required, they will fly to Atlanta on Saturday, May 27 to take on the Eastern Division champions, Life University. This coming weekend the focus is back on the United States Rugby Football Union Sweet Sixteen as OMBAC travels to Dallas for a first round match on Saturday against the Cincinnati Wolfhounds. If they turn back the ‘Hounds, OMBAC will face the winner of the San Mateo-Kansas City Blues clash for the right to play in the USA Final Four on June 3-4 in New Hampshire. OMBAC Lineup -Josh Bautista 1 -Replacements -* Sean Allen -OMBAC Scoring Summary -Tries: -Penalties: -Conversions: |