The OC Bombers traveled down the 5 freeway to take on the San Diego
Lions on Saturday August 7 in the first of two games these clubs play
each season.
The Bombers and the Lions are traditional rivals and these matches
are always hard fought battles. This one was no exception and it was
a great performance by both clubs who put on an entertaining game of
footy for the supporters.
San Diego were coming off a big loss on the road to Golden Gate and were always going to come out hard in this match with something to prove. They did just that and put plenty of pressure on the Bombers in the first quarter, a term which displayed lots of open, running football from both sides. The result was a high scoring quarter with 7 goals posted for the term, with the Bombers getting the best of it to go into the first break 8 points up. It was a great quarter of footy and a good advertisement for the game in Southern California.
OC's Chris Stewart looks for Mark of the Year. Photo by Steve Rydzon.
Bombers coach John Fragomeni was generally pleased with his side’s
first term, explaining that he felt the Lions had thrown everything
at the Bombers who weathered the storm and still managed to win the
quarter. OC now had the opportunity to show what they had, with the
feeling that SD wouldn’t be able to sustain the effort of the first
quarter and take it into the second. This proved to be the case as the
Bombers slammed on 4 goals in quick succession while keeping the Lions
goalless for the term. At half time the score was OC 8.6 to SD 3.2.
The third quarter was almost identical to the second, with the Bombers adding another 4 goals while keeping the Lions to just one point. A lot of the Bombers drive was coming from the midfield where ruckman Tyler Mounce was dominating the hit-outs in yet another classy game from the second year rising star. Veteran Simon Sweeney, who has struggled with injury for most of the year, had a stellar game and helped win the clearances from the middle. He was well supported by McFarland, Lindley, Luto and Wetherall who all rotated through the middle to great effect. The Bombers midfielders proved too much for the Lions to counter as the OC boys took control of the game.
Photo: San Diego's Justin Valley marks strongly in the pack. Photo by Steve Rydzon.
Meanwhile the OC back 6 were working well together as evidenced by keeping SD goalless for 2 quarters. Led by another veteran in fullback KB Nelson, the Bombers defense set up many drives from half back where Mike Hertstein provided his usual run and spot-on delivery up field.
The OC forwards enjoyed a return to form after a frustrating performance a few weeks earlier as they created space and opened up opportunities. CHF Chris Stewart took some strong marks and stamped his authority early, and OC’s forward structure started to show some good signs. A lot of this had to do with the improved delivery from the midfield as well as the general compliance by the players to stick to the game plan.
With the Bombers 62 points up at 3 qtr time and the game seemingly in the bag, the coach started rotating in some of the first year rookies and reserve players making up the large OC bench. Meanwhile the starting players eased off the accelerator a bit, and San Diego saw an opportunity and pounced. The Lions put on 4 goals to 1 to win the quarter and take some of the gloss off what was a good win for the Bombers, and it was a credit to the Lions that they fought out the game to the very end and finished off well.
Despite the last quarter fade out the Bombers coach was all smiles after the game. “SD at home are always very tough and they came at us as hard as we expected. They had some new quality Aussie players in their line up and JV, Schenka, Brando and Donnie all had good games. But I came away pretty pleased with the boy’s effort and our overall performance” he said. “As a group I really feel that we stuck to our game plan and combined much better than in the GG game and we put together 3 solid quarters, with our 2nd and 3rd quarters being our best.”
At the end of the day the Bombers ran out winners by 41 points. Coach Fragomeni was asked how he felt the new players were adapting and how the club preparation was going; “We are still settling a lot of new guys into this group… Paul Lima, David Franco, Rhys McFarland, Ron Luto, Cody Tewmey, Brandon Atienza and Drew Loewen are still finding their feet in the team structure but they have all been solid contributors.” He went on to say; “My main criticism of the way we are playing at the moment is the cheap turnovers from unforced errors, we missed too many easy goals and we have to work on our consistency over four quarters. The guys know we just need to put it all together and I'm confident that will come”
The Bombers and Lions next line up on August 28 in OC for the return home and away match of 2010.
San Diego 3.1 3.2 3.3 7.7 (49)
OrangeCty 4.3 8.6 12.11 13.12 (90)
GOALKICKERS
San Diego: Matt Lillien 3, Gregory Narleski 1, Brian O’Reilly 1, Travis Kistler 1, Leo Pegoli 1.
OrangeCty: Paul Lindley 3, Simon Sweeney 3, Andy Treanor 2, Chris Stewart 2, Rhys Macfarland 2, Rob Lutostanski 1.
BEST PLAYERS
San Diego: Brandon Blankenship, John Jones, Andy Evans, Justin Valley, Matt Lillien.
OrangeCty: Simon Sweeney, Paul Lindley, Tyler Mounce, Rhys Macfarland, KB Nelson.
Field Umpire: Bobby Bitmead.
