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By Alex Goff
It was comeback day in the DII club playoffs, especially in the East Pool 2, where the Tampa Krewe fell behind big-time and stormed back, and Brandywine went ahead, and just barely held on.
The Chicago Blaze, led by a superb game from flyhalf and play-coach Lance Houia, scored early and dominated the first half against the Krewe. The Tampa club, which had only lost one game all season, were shocked as the Blaze ran hard and kept up the pressure, scoring in the final moments of the first half to lead 12-0 at the break.
“We were making a lot of mistakes,” said Tampa head coach Dai Morgan. “I told the guys that we’d gifted them their points, and if we just stopped making those types of errors, we’d be OK. I was not too unhappy because I knew we could come back.”
And at the start of the second half, rather than settle down, the Krewe gave up another try –t his one on an interception. To fall behind 17-0. Sixty minutes into the match, it was still 17-0.
“They put us under a lot of pressure,” said Morgan. “They were without a doubt the toughest team we’ve faced all year. They have a big, solid forward pack and their 10, 12 and 13 were the best backs we’ve seen. But eventually our fitness showed and I was sure we’d come back.”
Cheered on by their fans and the other South teams in attendance, the Krewe started running pick-and-jams off the rucks. And they started scoring. Stephen Jackson scored on a pick-and-go after 12 phases. That was at 66 minutes. Five minutes later, scrumhalf Agustin Pombo de Erezcano took a quick tap and set up center Jeff Herron, who burst through several tacklers to score. Herron was dragged down just before the line, but astutely place the ball against the base of the goalpost, which counts as the tryline.
Matt McGinnis slotted his second conversion to make it 17-14.
With three minutes left, wing Shane Stewart capped off another multi-phase movement with a nice solo effort to give his team the lead 19-17. As time ran out, two massive tackles – one from Josh Crawford and one from Herron - jolted loose balls and set up Dustin Frank to feed Marc Petrini for the one to seal it 26-17.
It was an astounding comeback, and while Morgan said he was proud of his players, he added that the Blaze were a formidable adversary.
He might be saying the same of Brandywine. The Pennsylvania club ran out to a 17-0 lead in the first half, only to see New England champs Middlesex come back.
“We’d never seen Middlesex before and they’re a good team,” said Brandywine coach Chris Vely. “Our lineout was working well and we made a lot of breaks in the centers.”
That would be Jack Foley and John Convery in the midfield.
Tries by Ed Hughes, John Grace and Louis Tulio, along with a Ben Hopson conversion, put Brnadywine up 17-0. Early in the second half Hopson added a penalty to make it 20-0. Forwards Owen Gardner and Nick Wood seemed to have control.
But Middlesex inched back, scoring against and again, and while Tulio added a try, with time winding down it was 25-24 Brandywine.
“Yeah we were feeling it then,” said Vely. “We lost our way a bit but I was really proud of how the guys showed heart and stayed with it. They didn’t lose their composure.”
Hopson hit a late penalty to give his team some breathing room, and it was enough 28-24.
Now both these teams, having given their coaches heart attacks, will face each other.
“We saw Tampa came back, so we’re going to have to hit them hard early,” said Vely.
Added Morgan, “I was able to see Brandywine play; they’ve been at the national semifinals before. We respect them, but we do not fear them.”
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