DRFC Men Match Summary vs Kutztown
Saturday the 2nd of September, 2017, saw two respected Pennsylvania Rugby clubs clash in the showers of the Lehigh Valley. While Senior Men’s Clubs don’t often match up against University programs this was a match up long in the making. With a handful of ex-Kutztown players in the Doylestown lineup and both teams seeking challenges ahead of long and arduous seasons, the match was one made in heaven.
The rain was on and off through warm ups and, while it remained mostly dry during the game, the skies truly opened up at the final whistle.
Scoring was started off early when the Golden Bears of Kutztown capitalized on a Doylestown kicking error, swung the field twice, and attacked through their star outside center. He touched down for a 5-0 Kutztown lead after only 5 minutes of play. It became clear right off the bat for the Dragons, that this match would not be like those in the spring and summer. Their kick was unsuccessful and the Dragons marched back to center field intent on improving their communication and taking back control.
Longtime Doylestown fullback Max Compo evened things up at the 15 minute mark with a well worked try that came off a variety of clever moves along the wing. Finally the ball ended in the hands of Compo who dove into the corner to even things up. Dylan Hamilton missed a very difficult conversion attempt from the corner and the score sat at 5-5. The Dragons were settling in and starting to get used to the idea of being a team that can overpower squads.
The next points came only 5 minutes later as Aaron Green was able to touch down on the same corner. The pack of Doylestown was starting to suck the Golden Bears in and exploit the space out wide through superior hands and decision making in the line. Hamilton wasn’t going to miss a second from that spot and his second attempt was straight and true. The boon to the teams confidence is always palpable when the kicks go. and that was evident here.
12-5 Doylestown.
The next 10 minutes were back and forth with the halftime whistle unfortunately blowing before Doylestown got last licks. 2 trys were scored by Kutztown bookending a phenomenally well worked second try by Max Compo off a bit of beautiful play by mainstay Kevin Hockings. Hockings broke down the left, eluded tacklers, began to swing the play across the field and then found a streaking Compo who led the charge into the try zone with supporting runners all around him.
It was 17-17 at half time despite poorly executed lineout play from the Dragons and poor scrum execution from the Bears. You could see a certain level of frustration in the faces of the Bears. While mistakes were made throughout the half, the Dragons remained focused and quickly identified ways to improve and fix the issues in front of them.
The Bears were the more potent team in the opening minutes of the first half- touching down at 5th and 9th minute mark. Both conversions were put wide and the Dragons were quickly staring down the barrel of a gun that read 27-17 Kutztown and the game was in risk of getting out of reach.
Just when they needed it most, Doylestown came together as a team, regained their composure, and began to push the Bears around the field for the majority of the rest of the half. The team followed the weaving runs of the Kornock brothers and the clever line breaks of flyhallf Dylan Hamilton as they answered back in a big way. Trys were scored by Doylestown newcomers and ex-Golden Bears, Matt ‘Freddie’ Frederick and Dave Kornock, as well as dominant 8 man, Eric French. With 1 of 3 difficult conversions successful by Hamilton, Doylestown led 34-27 after 73 minutes.
Unfortunately as the clock wound down the Bears were able to sneak in a try through a clever pick by their 8 man. The kick was narrowly slotted from a difficult angle. Despite one last hopeful effort by Doylestown the ball trickled out of bounds inside the Bears 22 meter line and play was blown dead.
FINAL SCORE 34-34.
While a tie can often be a difficult pill to swallow this one was surely a victory for both teams. Great rugby was played and both clubs were left with a host of issues to perfect in practice before launching their own respective championship runs.
3 players made their first XV debuts in Brandan Wheeler, Ron Beverly, and Matt Frederick and all three came onto the scene with awareness, intensity, and a desire to be a part of the exciting things happening in Doylestown.
Nick Lykon made his first XV starting debut at outside center and performed admirably.
Representatives from many clubs were in attendance to watch the match and one would have to believe they all walked away with a newfound respect for Dragon Rugby. Surely the news will spread quickly and Doylestown will be sure to get every teams best effort week in and week out.
Next Saturday sees the Dragons take on Philly-Whitemarsh at home at 1pm. This is as much of a must win game as one can possibly have in first week of season as the winner will find themselves in the driver’s seat for the league right off the bat. Plan on coming out to train hard this week if you are a player or get ready to be a loud and powerful force of supporters come Saturday. I encourage everyone to come and be a part of the amazing things that are happening this season.
