Sparked by the return of newlywed Al Sauter and his two tries, the Devils prevailed over Reading RFC 28-23 to close out the 2006 DII North season.  This finds the Devils to 3-4-1 in League play and, unfortunately, not cracking the top four to earn a playoff spot.  The B-Side put on an outstanding display against Reading’s A-side redux, battling to a 22-22 tie, moving to 4-3-1.

First game: 

1^st half:

Returning to a perfectly maintained and manicured home pitch (thanks John Anderson) after an embarrassing blowout loss to Brandywine, the still-smarting Devils were primed to lay some lumber on their modern day rival, the sausage men of the Reading RFC.  No one was chomping at the bit more than 2006 top try scorer Mike Rimositis; but incredibly, he re-aggravated a calf injury and came up lame during the warm-up.  It wasn’t totally bleak however: In addition to Sauter, the Devils were welcoming back  flyhalf Bill Stom, flanker Mike Hutchinson, and fullback Josh Van Ness.

Reading always creates an interesting challenge for the Devils: 1. Reading has a family of superior athletes playing for them that can “play nice” together about 65 minutes and then they self-destruct and kaos ensues. 2. They have a big, physical pack but are inherently unfit.  3. They make outstanding individual plays and breaks but lack continuity and finishing skill.  4. They tackle well but don’t play a recognizable defensive pattern. You beat them with fundamentals, pressure, fitness and above all, patience-if you wait long enough they will eventually beat themselves.  The Devils had all of the above on the day and prevailed; however, we were dangerously outclassed in the scrums, leading to a lack of first phase attacking opportunities and, more seriously, some ugly looking collapses and player safety issues. 

Reading started the scoring with a penalty kick at 4:00.  It remained 3-0 Reading until the 21^st minute when the Devils forced a turnover, counterattacked, and broke flanker Phil Wright away.  Phil showed his pace as he swerved and weaved his way through the Reading defense on his way to a forty yard try. Stom converted.  At 28:00, Al Sauter popped up at full speed with space and ran right by the Reading unorganized defense and had enough gas to go all the way for a thirty yard unconverted try. Reading’s lack of discipline and Bill Stom’s dead on 1^st half kicking led to two penalties at 29:00 and 33:00 and made it 18-3 Devils.  At 36:00, the Devils pack began to lose concentration and yielded badly in several scrums leading to a heated discussion with the referee about safety, barging, pulling down, boring in, feeding and anything else to allow time for the Devil’s pack to get their heads together and regain composure.  Reading was given a free kick to restart play???????? and rumbled down to the goal line.  Visible from to SJRFC fans 75 yards away, Reading knocked on in goal directly in front of the typically HAPLESS ref but he gave them a try. Halftime score Devils-18; Reading-8

2^nd half:

The second half was a classic SJRFC-Reading barn-burner. Reading wasted no time getting things started and bullied there way back down into the Devils end and scored another unconverted try at 43:00, and then another one right through the Devils midfield at 52:00 to make it 18-18.  The game on the line, flyhalf Bill Stom stepped up tactical kicking pressure and Reading immediately yielded miscues and turnovers and an eventual carry-in-goal by a Reading winger.  This gave the Devil’s a five-meter scrum. Bolstered by skipper Chris Midgley’s halftime entrance at lock and the deep grass, the pack dug in and provided the best attacking platform of the day.  #8 Justin Band picked up, went right, dummied the pass to scrumhalf Alex Diaz and the over pursuing Reading back row went for it; Justin broke inside them and powered in for his best #8 try of the year to make it 23-18 Devils. Yet another break through the Devils midfield led to a forward rumble and eventual Reading try to make it 23-23 at 68:00.   At this point, Devils fitness started to emerge. On cue, Reading discipline began to degrade.  The Devils, led by the backrow of Band, Wright, and Mike Hutchinson, began to dominate possession. The halfbacks Alex Diaz and Bill Stom methodically worked the Devils down the field with a mixture of tight and wide runs. Finally, the Devils put themselves in position to create space out wide.  About thirty yards out, Al Sauter received good ball with Reading in retreat and turned on the pace, breaking a few tackles and finishing his best try of the year in the corner for the game winning try at 38:00.  Reading spurted a little in the final minutes but the Devil’s pressure prevailed. Final score: Devils 28-Blackthorn 23. 

1.       Graf 

2.       Angelo

3.       Diaz, T (c)

4.       Mirrabella

5.       Higgins (Midgley)

6.       Hutchinson

7.       Wright

8.       Band

9.       Diaz, A

10.    Stom (vc)

11.    Pente

12.    Higgins, M

13.    Sauter

14.    Palumbo

15.    Van Ness

Tries: Sauter (2), Band, Wright

Conversion: Stom 

Penalties Kicks: Stom (2)

Man of the Match: Phil Wright

Final Comments: With no imported skill players, pre-season practice field issues, injuries, four weddings and a funeral, work issues, arrests, etc..we probably over-achieved and you all should be proud…..but we still should have beat Wilmington, Lancaster, and maybe Doylestown.      

Young guys/new players: Way to get stuck in.   

Special 2006 thanks to: Scott Wilson-coaching; John Anderson-game field; Curt Gruber-for getting our Haddonfield practice field back and resolving light issues; Mark Evans-website, Pete Hesler-dedicated attention to recruiting/follow-up, and Pat Martin-the old reliable B-Side skipper/coordinator. 

Second game: (25 minute halves) 

A thrilling display of rugby by our B-side against another D-II A-side wearing different color shirts.  After a quick Reading try at 4:00, the Devils stormed out in front with trys by Lenny Accardi and Mike McCoy.  Tom Ferarri converted Mike’s try to make it 12-7 at half time.  Scott Wilson show-cased his grubber kicking ability as he put away high school winger Tom Sherman to start the second half making it 17-7 Devils.  Reading roared back with two unconverted tries leveling the score at 17-17.   Reading scored another one to put the Devils down by five with less than two minutes remaining. The Devils sucked it up and worked it right back with #8 Derek Quinn crashing over to tie the game at 22. It was all up to Tom Ferrari with a difficult kick into the wind from the sideline with no time remaining-unluckily, it sailed wide. 

Final Score: Devils 22-Reading B 22 

1.       Gambino

2.       Angelo

3.       Sweeney

4.       Lynch

5.       Scharf

6.       Wilson

7.       Brotz

8.       Quinn

9.       Diaz, A (McCoy)

10.    Ferrari (c)

11.    Lomu

12.    Martin

13.    Accardi

14.    Wolokowski

15.    Sherman