Stingrays Match Reports: Feb 23, 2019

U18's: Coach Peter Crick

"It's not the dog in the fight but the fight in the Dog!"

Stingrays played a high energy, fast paced game against AG/SLO, incurring a few penalties at the beginning of the game until we found our rhythm and discipline and began pounding the opposition taking advantage of all their mistakes. Stingrays hung on and out lasted them even when they came charging back in the last 10 minutes of the game. While we were starved of actual possession for most of the match (65% AG to 35% Stingrays) our players were able to make the most of our opportunities and build a solid lead of 24 to 7 with just ten minutes remaining. The referee sent J.J. from the field in the last ten minutes and that began the slow but steady oil leak from the Stingrays. By that point some of the boys were running on empty, and our opponents could smell blood and they poured on the pressure scoring 2 tries and one conversion during that time, but we put in our subs to inject new energy into our play which did the trick and the clock finally ran out. Stingrays hold on to stay undefeated - Well done to all our players. The whole team played a great defensive stand stopping AG/SLO from breaking our defensive line. Our forward pack - Jesus, Lucas, Sam, Jay, Dane and Taetum did a tremendous job to hold a wall and really stepped up to the plate during the entire match. Our point scorers were Sam with two tries, Lucas and Harry both scoring a try each, Thomo converted two of the tries to give us a total of 24 points. Injury report only one, Thomo had his ring finger dislocated but our chief medical officer Coach Richard Lotz swiftly popped it back in. He had his finger taped up and back in he went. Well done Thomo. This could be the beginning of a new nickname, who knows? 

U12's: Coach Peter Aguilar 

The U12s played very well on Saturday against a combined AG/SLO team. Right out of the gate, the boys hustled down to defend the opening kickoff, Laird stripped the ball from an opposing player, and the combination of Laird and Diego scored a quick try. Throughout the match, we scored several tries and ended up losing count. Isaiah had several big, tough runs and scored several tries himself. Diego made some great plays and found himself in the center of the action to come away with 3 or 4 tries. Manny and Ben were beasts dragging several players across the field, with Manny scoring a couple of tries himself. Aaron made several long runs, and his speed got him to the try zone. Davey made some spectacular tackles and was a vocal leader on the field. Braeden was a force among the forwards and made several tackles and good runs. The backs as a whole, including Jack, Lucas, Travis, Sebastian, Bradley, and Ilya did a good job of moving the ball. Defense was especially impressive, the boys showed good tackling technique (for the most part) and kept their side out of the try zone for the 3 halves we played - awesome! Man of the match goes to our rookie, Ilya who had a few great tackles and some long runs for tries. Let's go Stingrays!!