On Saturday September 20 2008 in Nashville TN, the No. 7 Nashville Kangaroos hosted the No. 10 Atlanta Kookaburras. After the season opening loss in Atlanta back in April, the Kangaroos put together five wins in a row, before stumbling into a buzz saw on the road in Milwaukee, to stand 5-2 and rankied #7 in the USFooty August 2008 poll. Atlanta has just cracked the top ten, replacing Seattle at the #10 spot, thus setting the backdrop for the return match. The Kangaroos and Kookaburras have played a amazing 17 times, with Nashville holding the all-time edge 13-4, including 9-1 at home in Nashville.

Atlanta has won the previous two meetings, though, and thoroughly dominated the Roos both times. This was the first game in quite a while for both squads, with Atlanta's match in July getting washed out in Milwaukee and the Kangaroos had five veterans in Australia for the 2008 International Cup these past four weeks. It was sure to be quite the interesting match as both sides bring a lot of talent to this storied rivalry. Thus, we pretty much knew we were in for yet another fantastic clash between the titans of southern footy. As a subtext to the main battle,Jeff Persson, returning from his stint with the US Revolution, played his 100th game as a Kangaroo, only the third to achieve the "Century" milestone.

The weather conditions were sunny, hot, and humid. The pitch was in great shape with grass in excellent condition. The winds were northerly and spotty, making it a bit of a gamble as to which team may or may not get an advantage. The Kookaburras won the coin toss and elected to kick with the sporadic wind for the first 20 minutes. The Roos got the ball early, led frequently and surprising by Jake Strickland playing his best quarter of footy in his young career, but could not kick accurately, scoring only behinds.

Once Atlanta got into their forward line Mick Frost got the first goal of the day with a fortunate bounce, kicking with authority from 40 yards out. The crafty veteran Wayne Kraska slotted a second a few minutes later. The Roos got the ball up to US Revolution starter Luke Nemeth (playing in the full forward position for the first time), but with the shifting winds, could only manage two more behinds. The battle was on and it was clear that these two evenly matched teams would be going toe-to-toe for the entire game. The marks in the first frame were even at six, however, the Roos faced a deficit, trailing 2.2.14 to 0.4.4.

The second quarter was an all out war for control between the half back lines; with two of the most experienced umpires in USFooty on the field, the hitting was hard but fair and anything even remotely untoward resulted in a whistle. After several 50 yard penalties showed who was in charge, all players got in line and played footy and the umpires were not a factor the rest of the way. The Roos finally got on the board with a major from Luke Nemeth. In a play worthy of making the ESPN Plays of the Day, Justin Davis cleaned up the back line with a booming kick to Damian Serong, who after taking a contested mark, found the streaking Matt Wheatley down the guts who kicked true from 35 yards out, giving the Kangaroos their first lead by just 3 points.

Atlanta answered the bell within a minute, as speedster Ross LaRosa picked up some crumbs, split two would be tacklers and the uprights to put the Kookaburras back in the lead by 3. Atlanta regained their margin heading into the big break when Kraska took contested mark from 50 out, then showed that the oldest player on the field is no where near ready to retire as he boomed one just over the outstretched hands of the defense. Nashville won the marks battle 7-6 in the quarter as the teams drew on the score board, 2.3. At the half, Atlanta led 4.5.29 to 2.7.19.

The premier quarter saw these two titans of the south trading body shots as the score stayed tight again. Carl Garofalo got Atlanta a quick goal in the first minute as the Kookas took charge immediately. The Roos replied with back with back-to-back goals from Wheatley and Dave McNamara who found an opening from 45 yards deep in the pocket and kicked true to bring the deficit back to 4 points. Meanwhile, former Kangaroo turned Kookaburra Mike Waller roved the middle of the field taking marks and generally made the Roos sorry they ever let him go!

As if following a script designed to emphasize suspense, Atlanta answered with its own set of back-to-back goals by Garofalo off the throw in from 15 yards and Sean Murray kicking true after a tripping call from 20 yards to push their lead up to 16 points. Luckily for the Rooboys, Wheatley scored a critical goal just before the horn to keep the battle close. Third quarter marks were level again at six, and at three-quarters time, it was Atlanta with essentially the same margin at 7.6.48 to 5.7.37.

Whatever Coach Marty Thompson and Captains Nemeth and former Kookaburra/current Roo co-captain Travis Quigley said to the team at the final break needs to be bottled and sold online, because the Roos, ignoring the 100-degree temperature, came out with guns blazing. The Mischa Nemeth-led defense stood tall and stymied the Kookaburras potent offense enabling the offense to put 16 unanswered points on the board to retake the lead, with a snap goal by Luke Nemeth and a long shot from the flank by McNamara. But Atlanta was far from ready to call it a day, as Brent Bacon took a strong mark and kicked true to put the Kookas back in the lead by 3 points. Not to be outdone, Kangaroos US Revolution player Dee Vsetecka was the recipient of some nifty ball movement, collecting an over-the-top pass from Bo Link to slam it through from inside the goal square.

That seemed to be the play to lift the Roos to victory as on the very next possession, rookie Rob McKenzie found open space from 25 yards out and kicked on the run, giving the Roos their biggest lead of the day at 10 points. The We Know Drama writers from Turner Network Broadcasting (based, where else, in Atlanta) were not done yet, as goal sneak extraordinaire Garafalo was perfectly positioned to take advantage of a strange bounce off the punch by full back Stuart Roe, sprinting clean to the middle of the goal square and he did not miss.

With minutes remaining, Persson took the ruck punch and drilled it deep in the forward pocket for the Roos. Eventually Luke Nemeth found Vsetecka in the corner who then found Quigley who scored his fourth career goal to put the game out of reach. When the final siren sounded, the exhausted players lined up for the ceremonial hand shake and then grabbed every bit of water they could find. The Kangaroos overpowered the Kookaburras in the final quarter out-marking them 16-5 to win the overall battle 35-23 and outscoring the obviously dejected Kookaburras 5.4.34 to 2.0.12.

Final score from Elmington Park saw Nashville on top 10.11.71 to 9.6.60 with the Kangaroos winning their 7th straight at home and concluding the 2008 home season undefeated. With the win, the Kangaroos are now 6-2 overall and 3-1 in the MAAFL Championship Division, while Atlanta drops to 4-2. With the Chicago win over Milwaukee (10.14.74 to 3.6.24), both of those teams finish the MAAFL season at 4-1 and Chicago leading in the first tie breaker, percentage (calculated as Total Points For divided by Total Points Against).

That gives the Kangaroos an opening to win the MAAFL 2008 Premiers flag, as they will need to win the final match of the season in Minnesota by a large enough margin of victory to overtake Chicago.

Quarter-by-quarter scores:
Kookaburras 2.2.14 Roos 0.4.4
Kookaburras 4.5.29 Roos 2.7.19
Kookaburras 7.6.48 Roos 5.7.37
Roos 10.11.71 Kookaburras 9.6.60

Goals:
NAS: Matt Wheatley 3, Dave McNamara, Luke Nemeth 2, Dee Vsetecka, Rob McKenzie, Travis Quigley
ATL: Carl Garofalo 3, Wayne Kraska 2, Brent Bacon, Mick Frost, Ross LaRosa, Sean Murray

Best On Ground:
NAS: Damian Serong, Luke Nemeth, Bo Link, Dee Vestcka, Dave McNamara, Jeff Persson
ATL: Brent Kewley, Ross Larosa, David Evans, Adam Grist, Michael Waller.

Umpires:
Field: Steve Arnott, Craig Warner
Goals: Toby Persson, Alex Benjamin

Attendance: 200

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