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You are here: Home / Events / Chicago Blaze vs Cleveland Crusaders D2

September 18, 2021

Chicago Blaze vs Cleveland Crusaders D2

vs

Recap

The D2 side took the field against fellow league leader the Chicago Blaze.

It looked as maybe the game would become a track meet after the Crusaders scored a try on their first possession of the match via a wide back line move finished off by a long run from Center Owen Hundt, playing in his first match as a Crusader, converted by Nick Viviani.

The Blaze were not discouraged and came back running over 20 phases, helped by some poor discipline from the home side to tie the match at 7, and followed that with a quick penalty kick to take a 10-7 lead with 20 minutes played.

The Crusaders continued to make breaks and looked dangerous with ball in hand, but the final passes or offloads went to the deck more often than not, likely a symptom of multiple newcomers in the backline and forwards trying to learn a new offensive system.

The Crusaders traded a penalty with a converted try from the Blaze off a penalty play to find themselves under some pressure 30 minutes into the match. From this point on the Crusaders tightened up their defense and were able to get more continuity on offense, as they started chipping away at the Blaze lead and the pressure started to wear on them, as much as the hot weather wore down both sides.
Joe Brown added the first of his 3 tries on the day off a nicely worked group of phases following a long break from Rookie Flanker Cullen Barelka. Right before halftime Captain and Eight Man Spencer Duncan made a heads up play off a lineout in which the Blaze chose to not engage a maul to score untouched and to give the Crusaders a 20-17 lead going into half.
Give the Blaze credit, they never backed down and played hard for all 80 minutes of the match, but the Crusaders defense bent but didn’t break for the rest of the match, bailed out a few times by a dominant scrum, and some solid breakdown work from Jake Fuchs and Cory “Poach Master” Graham.
Joe Brown was on fire in the second half and scored 2 more tries with hard and elusive running, to put the match out of reach. The Crusaders took home a bonus point victory and look to keep their undefeated streak going this weekend when Pittsburgh comes to town. D3 kicks off at 1pm, with D2 to follow, both matches will be at that Polo Grounds.
Hope to see you there!
Crusaders D2 Roster vs Blaze
1.) Frank Vitale – St. Ignatius
2. ) Mark Viviani- Mentor HS Rugby(via Lake Catholic), BGSU Rugby
3.) Joe Brown – St. Ignatius, Kent State Rugby
4.) Jake Fuchs – Black Pirate Rugby
5.) Terry Kilbane – St Eds, BGSU
6.) Preston Lowden – Kent State Rugby
7.) Cullen Barelka* – Medina, NDC Rugby
8.) Spencer Duncan (C) – NDC Rugby
9.) Cory Graham – NDC Rugby
10.) Nick Viviani – Mentor HS, BGSU Rugby
11.) Ty Kamcycz – Strongsville, Kent State Rugby
12.) Charlie Jewers* – Manchester, England
13.) Owen Hundt – St Eds, Boston Free Jacks MLR
14.) Alex Dine – Hudson Rugby
15.) Dan Heistercamp – St. Eds, Xavier Rugby
16.) John Strausshoffer- St. Ignatius, Kent State Rugby
17.) Brad Sekas – Ashland Rugby
18.) Nick Musarra – Mayfield Rugby, BGSU
19.) Ryan Sands – NDC Rugby
20.) Chris Reed – Hudson Rugby
21.) Steve Fritsch – Parma Rugby, BGSU
22.) Evan “Flapp” Bradshaw – NDC Rugby
Injured

– Zach Forro, Justin  Rutledge

Details

Date Time Competition Season
September 18, 2021 1:00 PM USA Rugby Men's Club Division 2 2021 Fall

Venue

Cleveland - Metroparks - Polo Grounds

Results

TeamPointsOutcome
CHB17Loss
CLE34Win

CHB

Position T C P DG
 0000

CLE

Position T C P DG
 0000
T
0
0
C
0
0
P
0
0
DG
0
0

Article by Parth Patel

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