OLD GAELIC SPLITS PAIR TO MOVE TO 2-1

The Old Gaelic Rugby Club rebounded from a tough road loss at Second City Troop in Week 2 with a convincing 50-0 dismantling of Wilkes Barre last Saturday.

After a decisive win over North Penn in the opener, the Griffins hit Philadelphia brimming with confidence, a state of mind seemingly justified when the Black and Gold sprinted to a 17-0 lead.  Ken Ivey scored on a short line-out move, Chris Botto finished off a Dan Roth feed and Brian Ogle dotted down on a one-man soccer-style grub-ahead to give Old Gaelic the early lead.

Undeterred, Troop showed its resilience.  First, SCT scored when a back picked off an errant pass at the start of an aborted counterattack and raced in.  A conversion and two penalty kicks – the second on the last play of the half – trimmed the deficit to 17-13 and set the stage for a see-saw second half that was like a dagger to the heart.

Troop opened the final frame with a try, thanks to a mishandled kick that resulted in a five-meter scrum.  They missed the conversion but led, 18-17.  Old Gaelic went back in front with 15 minutes left in the half when legacy Justin Stefanon (son of Tony, nephew of Tim, brother of Dyon) found the zone on an assist from Mark Cooley.  With less than 10 minutes to go, Troop again purloined a well-intended pass and turned it into seven points and the final winning margin, 25-22.  The Griffins got to the one-meter line in the waning moments, but alas, could not plunge it home.

T:  Ken Ivey, Chris Botto, Brian Ogle, Justin Stefanon

A:  Botto, Dan Roth, Mark Cooley

C:  Roth

1 – Troy

2 – Domitrovich

3 – T Smith

4 – Pomraning

5 – Hart

6 – Ivey

7 – Speese

8 – Brillhart

9 – Botto

10 – Roth

11 -  M Cooley

12 – Kroesen

13 – Lindsey

14 – Ogle

15 – J Stefanon

The trip home from Wilkes-Barre seemed shorter after the one-sided victory.  The Griffins took a commanding halftime lead and never looked back, evidencing that positive lessons were learned during the Main Line debacle the previous week.

Scott Lindsey got things started when he scooped off the base of the ruck and sprinted in from 15 meters.  Brian Ogle scored three quick trys. First, he followed his own deep kick, then took a dish from Mark Cooley for the dot-down before completing his first-frame hat trick by picking up an errant skip-pass and motoring past the secondary. 

The scoring frenzy continued when Gaelic mauled and Lindsey found open space before finding Chris Botto for the finish.  John Kroesen assisted Ken Ivey for a 36-0 lead at the break.

Matt Hart (from James Oliverio) and Lindsey (from Kroesen) found the hallowed ground for the final score.

A short “B”  game ended in a scoreless dreadlock.