Summer Metro Round 1 – Convicts(Red) vs Blue Team
Sunday June 7, 5pm
Bendwood Park
With summer starting to heat up Houston, the Lonestars kicked off a new Metro series with the opening match played on Sunday evening. Last Wednesday's draft saw two new team captains take the reigns - Matty L captaining the Mighty Convicts of the red team while Ricko leads the much taller blue squad. With travel and injuries limiting player availability, both teams managed to wrangle decent numbers for the round 1 bout. The game was played with 10 a side, making sure to leave a couple of subs for each team. This made for a tough encounter as the relatively large field left lots of open space for the players to use.
The first quarter started fast, as any concerns the Convicts had about playing without the absent Perham were quickly silenced by a dominating performance in the ruck by the surprise pickup Dale Cameron. With the flow off the tap consistently moving in the red teams favor, the forward line of Matty L and Dan were able to slot in some early goals and give the Convicts the first lead of the game. The blue team fought hard and ran harder, but inaccurate kicking and constant pressure would be the story of their first quarter. With Brendan putting through 1 more goal before the horn, the Convicts walked away from the first quarter with a 3 goal lead.
The second quarter began much like the first as the Red Convicts jumped out early and took another goal. The blue team, however, would not be going down easy. With some positional adjustments, the blues were able to take advantage of the aggressive red midfield. Over-pursuit by the reds and fast hands by the blues lead to back to back goals as the blue midfield was able to force a numbers advantage in the forward half of the field. The teams would trade a few more goals as the heated competition of the metro only grew hotter.
The Convicts led at the half: 6.3.39 to 3.7.25
The second half started with another positional shift by the blue team as big Tom was sent in to battle Dale in the ruck. This provided the extra spark in the middle that the blue team needed as the entire flow of the game shifted into their favor. The ball spent the majority of the quarter in the blues forward line as Max and Blake knocked in several goals. The red team was beginning to look tired as possession after possession all went in favor of the blues. With Josh Devlin tap-dancing a goal in from about 2 feet out, the blues found themselves only 1 goal back as the third quarter came to an end.
The final quarter began with the same intensity that ended the previous quarter. The Convicts were fired up and determined to hold onto their early game lead, and the blues felt destined to snatch the victory away in the waning minutes. The ball went back and forth, with every possession hotly contested. The midfield had turned into a battleground. The Convicts were the first team to land a strike as they managed to get a handball out of the pack that led to a quick kick into the waiting arms of Nick Maass who was able to run in the first goal of the quarter. The red team would not be celebrating for long however, as a few possessions later, Max took the mark of the day. Running hard and flying high, he was able to bowl his way through a pack and come up with the ball, and ultimately a goal. Unfortunately, that would be the end of the scoring for the blue team. With the Convicts managing to put through 2 more goals in the final minutes of the game, they had secured the victory, and taken the early lead in the series.
Final Scores
Convicts 10 – 7 – 67
Blues 7 – 8 – 50
Goals
Convicts: Matt L (5), Brendan (2), Dan(1), Nick M (1), Robbie (1)
Blues: Max (3), Blake (1), CDG (1), Art (1), Josh D (1)
Best
Convicts: Matt L, Bren, Dale, Sean, Nick Maass
Blues: Blake, Tom D, Max, Art, Tobin
~Written by Matty 'Baby' L. (Convicts Captain)
