Zack Padgett makes a break vs. the Boston Thirteens
New Haven and Jacksonville have wrapped up undefeated regular seasons and clinched the top two seeds for the playoffs with victories in the final round of the American National Rugby League competition.
Other Round 7 winners included Washington DC and Philadelphia.
Philly's Zack Padgett (Marvin Dangerfield photo)
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The Warriors traveled south on I-95 to Norwalk, CT, to tackle the Wildcats in a rivalry game and came away with a convincing 80-14 win.
New Haven led 38-4 after two quarters and then stepped on the gas in the second half, while also denying the Cats a much needed bonus point as Connecticut was in a dogfight with several other teams for a postseason berth.
Further south in Philadelphia, the Aston DSC Bulls again were upended by a red hot Jacksonville Axemen side which won 42-26 to complete a second straight unbeaten regular season run.
“Our inability to control the ball and poor discipline helped Jacksonville out,” Aston coach Marcus Vassilakopoulos told ARN.
“They capitalized on every Bulls’ error and penalty and won the game in the first half.”
The Floridians finished on equal points with the Warriors, but New Haven’s better points differential saw the Warriors cement top spot in the standings. Both teams have earned home field advantage for the quarterfinals on August 14.
Elsewhere, the Washington DC Slayers made it two straight wins against rivals Fairfax by downing the Eagles 24-16 in a hard fought, come-from-behind victory.
The Eagles led 10-0 early on, but couldn’t hold off an invigorated Slayers team that clawed its way back into the contest to take an 18-10 lead into halftime.
Fairfax rallied in the third quarter to trail by just two points at 18-16 after DC put up a couple of energy-sapping goal line stands and a final try in the fourth quarter gave the home team the W.
Tim Dougald (2), Matt McBay and Tom O’Connor were the Slayers’ try-scorers, while Ryan O’Connell was perfect on the day converting all tries. Rich Nolte and O’Connell had stellar games, particularly on defense.
“We are happy with the team effort, particularly in the extreme heat, and are looking forward to the playoffs,” said Washington coach Bill Weeks.
In the late game, the Philadelphia Fight ended the playoff hopes of the Boston 13s with a 36-24 win in a very physical affair in Conshohocken, PA.
“It was a huge battle of epic proportions and it could have gone either way at any moment,” Boston coach Mikhael Shammas told ARN.
The 13s got a bonus point for scoring four tries by George Aroyan, Ben Browne, Stephen Carson and Sean Donahoe, but were left ruing what might have been as they missed out on qualifying for the playoffs by a single point. Eight teams go through.
The match also served as the third annual 'Battle to Strike Out ALS' (Lou Gehrig's Disease).
There is still one more makeup game to be played midweek between Aston and Philly to determine the final postseason seedings.
Standings (unofficial):
New Haven Warriors (6-0) 30pts
Jacksonville Axemen (6-0) 30pts
New York Knights (4-2) 21pts
Washington DC Slayers (3-3) 17pts
Philadelphia Fight (3-2) 16pts
Aston DSC Bulls (3-2) 16pts
Connecticut Wildcats (2-4) 13pts
Fairfax Eagles (2-4) 12pts
Boston 13s (2-4) 11pts
Pittsburgh Vipers (1-5) 5pts
Northern Raiders (0-6) 0pts
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