Pelham hosted Nerbirth Rugby Club, one of the better clubs in Pennsylvania, on Saturday at Franklin Field.
The U13 team continued their recent run of improving play. In fact, they led 21-14 at halftime. Strong play by Adam Razick, Woods Johnson, James Bristow, Sofia Imperato, Quinn Jenkins and Conner Evans saw Pelham put in three tries in the first half, all converted by Tamio Shibasaki.
Unfortunately, they couldn’t hold on to the lead. Nerbirth scored 33 points to Pelham’s 14 in the second half. Captain Quinn Scanlon came off due to a dead leg, and Conner Evans stepped in at scrumhalf. Conner did a great job. As usual, Adam Razick provided some exciting runs, while James Bristow, not to be outdone, went on some good ones himself.
This game also saw the continuing emergence of Nick Lapponese. A newcomer this season, Nick is really figuring it all out. We could not name one player of the match, but instead gave it to three players, James Bristow, Adam Razick and Jean Vigroux. All three played very well. The team is anxiously waiting for the rematch this Saturday when Pelham travels to Philadelphia.
The U15s kept on rolling, beating Nerbirth 50-0. It could have been much more. Pelham played their first contested scrums ever (where the players actually push). And they dominated them. The first two scrums the kids ever faced were put ins for Nerbirth, and the Pelham boys stole both of them. The scrum was led by Josh Quinn, Morgan Collins and Kevin Ndou in the front row, but super subs Christian Battaglia, Alex Oman and Dan Biskup also did a great job, along with Matt Biskup and North Westall when they filled in.
The Pelham team looked like it might be in trouble shortly after kickoff. Three players were absent, so the Pelham team had six backs and no subs for the backline. Shortly after kickoff, star player Whit Johnson and Matt Rabinowitz, a player of the match earlier this season, both had to come off. That saw Cian Burns step in to fly half and Matt Biskup come from the forwards to the backs, while Dan Maydwell went to inside center. The reconfigured backline was led well by Captain Kees Huisman. Kees led by example and did a great job organizing the backs. Scorers were Kees (3), Ryan Killeen (2), Luke Persanis, Kevin, North, Jean and Dan Maydwell. Man of the match was a very tough call, but in the end it went to Ryan Killeen for his great runs, great defense and fielding of kicks.