Whites Thump Royals

Saturday, September 17, 2005

 
The Bomber Whites opened their fall MRFU Cup season by defeating the St. Louis Royals 51-12 on a beautiful September afternoon in Buder Park. The Whites were able to rack up the points in the opening half of a chippy, stop-start affair. Captain Corey Gunnell did well to keep his troops disciplined and focused throughout the entire match against an ill-disciplined Royals first side.

The match was scoreless until the 15 minute mark when the Bombers countered a Royals kick that didn't find touch and was finished by fullback Steve Bosse, who slipped the Royal defenders to score under the posts (converted by Monette). Just three minutes later a series of offloads created another Bomber try. Rene Monette drew several Royal defenders, then popped to TJ Ebner, who then offloaded to Zach Giljum who stood through a would be tackle to score Eric Hinson in the corner.

Youngster Garrett Lambert, who continues to impress, added the next converted try at the 24 minute mark by finishing some good work by the Bomber forwards in tight, taking a couple of would be tacklers into the tryzone with him. Looking more like his youthful days as a wing than his present loosehead prop, Gio Lafata finished a nifty blindside move to outpace the opposition 40 meters along the touchline to turn and dot down under the posts. Less than two minutes later another blindside Bomber move started by Scott Giljum, distanced by his brother Zach, then back to Scott who finished this Giljum family try.

The Bomber forwards, who were tough in the lineout all day, stole a Royals throw and with quick hands moved the ball to outside center Dave Samples. Samples found himself all alone after dummying left and right to his supporting runners to sprint under the posts for a converted try. Samples' inside center partner Eric Hinson countered with his second try of the day by running through the would be defenders for a 41-0 halftime lead.

Some loose Bomber tackling resulted in the Royals notching their first of two tries in the second half. By the 49th minute, the Bomber forwards responded with a driving maul from a lineout with Captain Corey Gunnell dotting down on behalf of all 8 forwards. The Royals scored their second try on a miscommunication by a reshuffled Bomber backline. The Bombers would have the final say with second row Josh Rainey splitting the Royal defense for a try to round out the scoring for the day in favor of the Bombers 51-12.

The Bomber tackling was led by the omnipresent veteran Chad Tsitovich, youngster Garrett Lambert, Andy Entwistle and Gio Lafata. The attacking Bomber defense continually put the opposition under pressure with numerous tackles well behind the gainline. Canaan Craig and Gio Lafata were tough tackles all day as were the hard running center tandem of Eric Hinson and David Samples. The Giljum brothers, wing TJ Ebner and the always shifty Steve Bosse proved too tough to catch all day. Veteran flyhalf Rene Monette orchestrated his backs superbly and used a well educated boot for territory.

Other notables were 16 year-old wing Bobby Ciapciak and 17 year-old lock Dan "Big Bird" Aten, who both put in solid efforts to complement fellow U-19 Garrett Lambert as part of the Bomber youth brigade.