MRFU D-2 Championship
for Whites

Saturday, October 29, 2005

 
The Bomber White side defeated the St. Louis Ramblers 20-10 at the 2005 MRFU Championships in Forest Park. The Whites took home the champion's cup for the 6th consecutive year, and now have won the cup 11 of the last 12 years. The Bomber's loose forward trio of Chad Tsitovich, Garrett Lambert and Zach Giljum were the difference in the match. All three were brilliant in the lineouts, at the tackle and poach, and with ball in hand.

The match opened up as a stalemate, with the Ramblers playing with the breeze and kicking for territory often. The Bombers finally put the scorekeeper to work when hooker Andy Entwistle went on a 20 meter rampage and bulled over the line 33 minutes into the match. Flyhalf John Ruzicka added the extras to put the Whites up 7-0 going into halftime.

The first 5 minutes of the second half produced a flurry of points. Bomber #8 Garrett Lambert charged through several would-be tacklers and then laid the ball back nicely in the ruck for the Bombers to quickly put through the hands to score. Flanker Zach Giljum was the recipient of center Josh Witten's assist, and Ruzicka's conversion pushed the Bomber' lead to 14-0. The Ramblers answered quickly as their big wingers were making strong runs on a regular basis, putting the Whites on their heels. Rambler wing Chad McDermot's punishing run produced an unconverted try to narrow the score to 14-5. Ruzicka responded with a penalty goal to put the Bombers up 17-5. The Rambler forwards put together a string of phases in close to score and narrow the gap to 17-10 with 20 minutes to play.

The last quarter saw veteran Bomber flyhalf and captain John Ruzicka bravely play on despite a badly broken nose. Ruzicka managed to keep the majority of play in the Rambler end and was rewarded with another penalty goal to push the Bombers further in front 20-10 with 10 minutes to play. Rambler wing John Foran made several carving runs in the dying stages and Rambler flyhalf Jay Kreikemeier used the short side often to attack, but all to no avail as the Bomber defense held firm and closed out the match with a well deserved victory.

The Bombers were well supported on the day by a big crowd. Spotted cheering the club to victory were Bomber legends: Scott Waddell, Vic Miller, Tom Butler, Mark Sasser, Harley Meyer, John Kyle, Sterling Hayden, Cliff Schlereth, Bob Jones and many more. The Ramblers returned the hosting favor and provided good grub, plenty to drink and a great time at a very nice aftermatch function at Sybergs on Market Street. The Bombers express a big thank you to the Ramblers for their hospitality, and for raising their competitive level on the pitch- providing some much needed local competition for the White side.

White Side Squad vs Ramblers:
1 Andy Adank
2 Andy Entwistle
3 Canaan Craig
4 Corey Gunnell
5 Dave Domian
6 Chad Tsitovich
7 Zach Giljum
8 Garrett Lambert
9 Scotty Giljum
10 John Ruzicka (captain)
11 Dan Schwartzmeyer
12 Josh Witten
13 Eric Hinson
14 David Samples
15 Bryan Lay

Replacements: Bill Williams for Adank @ 65, Julius Mingala for Domian @60, TJ Ebner for Schwartzmeyer @35

Reserves: Dan Aten, Kevin Brown, Jim Hoffmann, Tim Chambliss, Jim Boggeman, Tom McCarthy