OMBAC
RUGBYhttp://www.ombacrugby.com
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Late Palmer Onslaught Ends OMBAC's
Season (Valient Effort is Denied in the Last 15 Minutes) |
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13 May 2001 - Ft. Worth, TX - The last time Palmer and OMBAC met was in the 1995 National Championship semi-final match in the heat and humidity of another Texas city, beautiful Austin. On that day, OMBAC came out on top, but today Palmer finally got their revenge. The scouting report for Palmer was similar to Boston's, a strong pack and a hard-charging center. It was another accurate report, only Palmer had a bit more power in the pack and a bit more charge in their center. A Palmer try five minutes into the match broke the ice but not the nerve of the young OMBAC team. For the next 55 minutes they stood toe-to-toe with the Midwest's best Division One team and matched them blow for blow. A darting run by Hinkin led to an Aspinall penalty to get OMBAC on the board. Five minutes later, Hinkin looked like he was through but a last ditch ankle tap prevented a try but a Palmer hand in the ruck allowed Aspinall to tack on another three. OMBAC grabbed its first lead of the match 10 minutes from the break as Aspinall slotted a 40-meter effort. But just before the half, Palmer regained the lead on a converted try as the teams changed ends with Palmer on top 16-9. Palmer got the all-important first score of the second half ten minutes in. OMBAC wasn't going to go down without a fight and finally found the try zone shortly after. Spreading the ball wide, something they had trouble doing throughout the first half, OMBAC stretched out the Palmer defense and that allowed center Pat O'Mahoney to slip through for a score in the corner. Aspinall's conversion closed the deficit to 23-16. The battle was on for the next 15 minutes with OMBAC closing to 23-19 on an Aspinall penalty. But the pace of the match and injuries caught up to OMBAC as they conceded three tries in the last 15 minutes of play to come out on the short end of a 44-19 scoreline. "We gave it everything we had," said veteran Clark Bernales. "We never gave up. We just ran out of gas at the end. It was a fun ride and hopefully we'll be back next year for another go." With the season now over for this OMBAC team, they can look back on a job well done. Since taking over for OMBAC's Super League team, this OMBAC side won five out of seven Division One games and made it all the way to the Final Eight Division One teams in the country. Congratulations OMBAC! |