Belmont Shore 36 Chicago Lions 27 (halftime: Belmont 15-14)

(Chicago) Mike Kedgley’s 67th-minute try sealed Belmont Shore’s 36-27 win over the Chicago Lions, confirming the unbeaten Southern Californians as the Super League’s team to beat.

Snaffling a grub kick which rebounded off the goalpost, the openside flanker claimed the second of three converted Belmont touchdowns in an 11-minute span. The Lions had led 20-15 after wing Andrew Tihore’s second penalty goal 14 minutes into the second stanza, but thereafter the visiting pack determined the outcome.

In an episodic match that saw five lead changes, there was little between the backlines. But Chicago had no answer for charging Henry Bloomfield, most diligently pursued by Kedgley, and was so badly disrupted at scrummage that it could manage little offense for large stretches of the sometimes rainy game.

The “interconference” road win over the two-time semifinalists kept Belmont ahead of rivals Golden Gate and OMBAC, which triumphed over Philadelphia-Whitemarsh and Old Blue, 50-16 and 43-22 respectively. Every other red conference team triumphed this weekend, underlining the Western group’s strength.

Belmont center Jason Roach opened the scoring, winning an aerial duel with fullback Jeremy Nash to score a crossfield kick from Mike Hercus. Hard running from hometown prop Jon Vitale leveled the count at 7 after 8 minutes.

Flyhalf Hercus slotted a penalty goal, and then missed touch. Tihore launched the counter, with Nash filling in to assist Phil Eloff, who sailed around the left corner to score under the post. Belmont’s second try, from wing Iopu Sanonu, set the halftime count at 15-14.

Tihore’s pair of three pointers put the Lions back in front, and along with patches of rain, seemed to persuade Belmont to take the game into the pack.

Lock Tim McCue tallied a forwards try at 59 minutes. Next, Bloomfield was held up over the line before Hercus laid down a dribbler intended for his outsides, but claimed by Kedgley. Roach’s second try, an intercept that sprang from yet another disrupted Lions setpiece, put the game completely out of reach.

Separately, Navy captured the Mid-Atlantic collegiate title with a 33-28 overtime win over Penn State. Tennessee captured the South title with a 36-14 victory over Clemson.

Belmont Shore 36 Chicago Lions 27 (halftime: Belmont 15-14)

Chicago Lions
Tries: Jon Vitale, Phil Eloff, Joe Chesak
Conversions: Andrew Tihore (3)
Penalties: Andrew Tihore (2)

Jeremy Nash; Andrew Tihore, Phil Eloff, Austin Britts, Scott Jones (Robert Cocking Eddie Bluemel); Scott Peterson, David Selimos; Jon Vitale, Jim Pelton (Phil Abraham), Chad Slaby, John Shelbourne, Dustin Hugen, MC Laubscher, Tom Dolan (Jason Price), Joe Chesak

Belmont Shore
Tries: Jason Roach (2), Iopu Sanonu, Tim McCue, Mike Kedgley
Conversions: Mike Hercus (4)
Penalties: Mike Hercus

Francois Viljoen; Tony Frantangelo, Jason Roach, Valenese Malisa, Iopu Sanonu; Mike Hercus, Mike Petri; Mark Kerner, Craig Eaton (Cesar Santoyo), Chris Osentowski, Tim McCue, Faimafila Elivara, Mike Kedgley, Henry Bloomfield

Referee: Graeme Bullen (Midwest and United States)
Attendance: 100 (estimated)

Comments

[slow work day...]

Goes to show how strong the West teams are and how weak the rest of the country is... No wonder most of the Eagles traditionally hail from California...

[Hector Lee]

C'mon dude. If you want to make overbroad statements at least be smart enough to pick an example that supports your position. It looks like the game was pretty close and the Lions have had as many Eagles on their roster in the past 10 years as any other club in the country.

[slow work day...]

Hector are you back here again? I thought you had left in disgrace... Pick and example? How about every West team won their games suggesting the West coast is the dominate part of the country and has the best players. No time to go through Eagle rosters but usually they are pretty California centric, which I have heard many conspiracey theories of why this is so yet the East coast/mid west teams typically get there asses kicked by West coast teams.

[just lurking out here]

You mean like at the all-star championships the past couple years?

[Flynn]

You mean like at the all-star championships the past couple years?

The one where the Pacific Coast and Southern California play as separate entities? That one?

[theo]

While I do agree the West Coast teams are very, very strong and should be given credit for their success. I don't think anyone should overlook the fact that due to the weather, Midwest and East Coast teams are just now getting outside to play when the West Coast teams have been playing meaningful rugby outside since January.

Referring to the rest of the country as weak, because the West Coast gets a two month head start is simply a weak statement.

[swd]

how do you then explain the lack of national champions in RSL and Div. 1 outside of California? It's not still snowing in late spring/summer is it?

[swd]

how do you then explain the lack of national champions in RSL and Div. 1 outside of California? It's not still snowing in late spring/summer is it?

[Flynn]

"Referring to the rest of the country as weak, because the West Coast gets a two month head start is simply a weak statement. "

That's a fundamental part of California's dominance though, and it can't be brushed off so easily. In places like the Bay Area, you could basically play 15s all year.

I'd go so far as to suggest Norcal adopt a season like Argentinian soccer, with an Apetura (opening) and Clausura (closing) tournaments. It would be nice to avoid the January rains which are miserable to play in.

[Hector Lee]

Slow work day...

I don't necessarily disagree with your conclusion. I just disagree with being cocky about it while at the same time picking a poor example to illustrate your point. Obviously you agree with my point as your reply did not justify your poorly chosen example, but instead cites others, not to mention your cheap shot which is always a tell tale sign that an argument lacks substance.

Disgraced? C'mon dude. Grow up.

[Joe McGlinchey]

Aspen didn't have much of a problem racking up national championships and Super League titles.

How's the weather in Aspen in March - and April?

It's all about the team. Weather is an excuse.

We'll see how it turns out. I saw NYAC take down my club (Belmont Shore) for the title in Connecticutt a couple of years back. They earned it on the field.

[Rafael Zahralddin]

As a player and administrator on both coasts let me see if my opinion can add something constructive. I played and was a board member at Belmont for 5 years and there is no truer Old Boy.

At the same time I have also spent 5 years on the board at Philadelphia Whitemarsh and chaired two Army-Navy Matches as well as being the current President and Super League Representative (a post I once served in for Belmont).

First, its not really the weather and it is not just an excuse, there is an advantage to the timing of the season.

It does a couple of things. First, Having a split season in the East (Fall- D1,D2,D3) means that players are pressed to play essentially 10 months a year or a full year if they play 7s or Rugby League. This leads to early burnout.

Second, we have trained on ice cold frozen fields since February. Some injuries come from this, not to mention it isn't the same training as I saw on the west coast in February. The cost of synthetic practice fields, when we can even get on, is close to $200 a night for 1 1/2 hours. Some synthetic surfaces are great, others are not well maintained and we have seen a rash of knee and joint problems. In short, the training is difficult.

Aspen was able to attract a higher caliber athlete and rugby player because they were a very well funded team.

This leads to another issue.
Outside of a sole supporter or group of Old Boys who fund a team, teams could raise revenue by making their games an event.

OMBAC has a great field with fan capacity and the weather to encourage attendance. This is a fundraiser for OMBAC. It is a fundraiser/revenue raiser for all sports.

More money, then maybe a team can get better athletes or keep those in its part of the country at home.

Philly's BIW match this weekend was at a local University's state of the art synthetic field. This was done for two reasons, necessity and the hope for some revenue.

The weather did not permit play on several grass fields earlier this year and last year. With the amount of money in play with travel, hotel, etc, and because it hurts media relations to have an erratic schedule, we decided to go with the stadium and synthetic surface. We had to cancel the first time because even a synthetic surface cannot be played when covered in ice.

We could only afford it for one of our games as it came with a $900 price tag. We were able to cover, barely with $10 cover, but if it had been a nice day we would have made $3000.

So the weather does affect the team.

So Joe you are right, it is the team.

There is a large concentration of East Coast players on West Coast teams. It is easier to run the team on the West Coast, it is also easier to make money in better weather.

Joe - aren't you from the East Coast?

I of course know the answer, as we were team mates.

My point is - in order to make everything more competitive, rugby has to be managed correctly and weather is something we need to take a closer look at, I am not sure if it would be a panacea. It seems to me, working on a model where we play in better facilities and have people pay to see us to at least cover some expenses would make it easier to promote the game to both fans and better athletes.

Don't get me started on eligibility, Southern Cal's new rules that allow players who played D1 to go up is a step in the right direction as well.

We don't have that yet on this Coast.

[slow work day...]

Rafael, Nice post, I probably wouldn't play rugby if I had to deal with all of that! There are obviously some very good players/teams west of the Rockies... it really was a slow work day and felt like instigating some discussion since it had been lacking for a few posts...