On Saturday September 12, the Baltimore Washington Eagles hosted the second EAFL tournament of 2009 at Bocek Park in Baltimore MD. It was a dreary day with intermittent rain and fairly brisk wind blowing away from the city end. The tournament schedule had the Eagles hosting the No. 9 Boston Demons in a full length game to finish out the EAFL Premiership season. It had a number of tournament style games between with New York, Philly and North Carolina all playing two games. The tournament also saw the Baltimore Washington Lady Eagles host the New York Lady Magpies and a game between the EAFL All Stars and the Baltimore Washington Eagles Reserves.

While the Eagles vs Demons game was the one for EAFL points, with New York sewing up the EAFL Premiership a couple of weeks ago, the big game of the tournament was between the No. 2 Baltimore Washington Eagles and the No. 1 New York Magpies. In something of an upset, the Eagles thrashed the Magpies kicking 8 goals to 0. The Eagles and Magpies have developed a heated rivalry in the last few years. A rivalry helped along by some unbelievably close games, a strong desire to win the USFooty National Championship and some fiery individuals.

The Magpies started the game in control. Joel Daniher controlled the center with Magpie team mate Shane Batty and the two looked like they could move the ball easily to James Hawkins at full forward. The Eagles on the other hand seemed to have difficulty finding their full forward Revo RJ Wheelock. However, as the game moved forward the Eagles ability to get a quick handpass out of the pack to a running team mate allowed them to score a couple of goals against the run of play. At the half both teams had had two shots on goal but Eagles had the lead from two straight kicks. Eagles 2.0 (12) to Magpies 0.2 (2).

The second half was a totally different game. The Eagles players seemed to relax and realize that they could run and carry while being protected by their team mates with hard sheppards. Eagles runners including Jay Levesque, Kevin Stanley and Shane Frearson started cutting up the Magpies mid-field, while great games from Joe Lilly and Brandon Bludau stopped any and all Magpie attacks. The game remained chippy and tough throughout, but with Wheelock and coach Aaron Tyndall getting on the score board, it got away from the Magpies pretty quickly. In the end it was the Eagles 8.6 (54) to the Magpies 0.2 (2).

The Magpies got a measure of revenge after the tournament when they took on representatives from the Eagles and the Philly Hawks in a Boat Race at Mothers in Federal Hill. After a clarification of the rules: according to Batty, "spileage is just wrong." Batty stunned the crowd to lead the Magpies to an easy victory.

The biggest surprise package of the the tournament were the Jon Loring led Philadelphia Hawks. The Hawks thrashed both the No. 9 Boston Demons and the North Carolina Tigers a team that had beaten the Hawks at home back in July. The Hawks big man, Alex Lynden, was fantastic all day. His pace and skills were outstanding. According to Head Coach Loring, "He is as good a rover when the ball is on the ground and many aren't willing to go against such a big guy."

The Demons were missing some of their stars and were obviously hurting after a very good game against the Eagles earlier in the day. It should be interesting to see the re-match next week in Boston.

The North Carolina Tigers were the most disappointed with their tournament after being thrashed by both New York and Philadelphia. The one bright spot was the play by Kim Hemenway, who is not only one of the best female players in the US but one of the better players of any gender.

In the women's game, the more experienced New York Magpies were too much for the Baltimore Washington Eagles.

Game 1

Balt/Wash 1.4 7.6 10.7 11.10 (76)

Boston 3.3 5.4 6.4 8.4 (52)

GOALKICKERS

Balt/Wash: Aaron Tyndall 3, R.J. Wheelock 3, Brandon Bludau 2, Rich Strayer 1, Steve Zanguahli 1, Matt Fenlen 1.

Boston: Peter McCormick 3, Paul Napolitano 2, Paddy Tangney 1, Ari Joniec 1, Danny Harris 1.

BEST PLAYERS

Balt/Wash: Joe Lilly, Damian Hill, Mick Dunne, Brandon Bludau, Shane Frearson.

Boston: Ari Joniec, George Lakomy, Andrew Stratford, Peter McCormick, Paul Napolitano.

Field Umpires: Paul Reddacliff, Tony McNiff.

Game 2

New York 5.4 7.5 (47)

Nth Carol. 0.1 0.5 (5)

GOALKICKERS

New York: James Hawkins 3, Zac Keane 3, Toby Tornay 1.

Nth Carol.: Nil.

BEST PLAYERS

New York: Joel Daniher, Toby Tornay, Andy Brennan, Michael Murphy, Ben Squires.

Nth Carol.: Michael Coysh, Mark Griffin, Paul Duncan, Kim Hemenway, Jason Heathcote.

Game 3

Philadel. 8.5 (53)

Nth Carol. 1.1 (7)

GOALKICKERS

Philadel.: James Hildebrand 2, Jonathon Loring 1, Paul Giacome 1, Patrick Miller 1, Ryan Kavanaugh 1, Jack Henderson 1, Tom O'Halloran 1.

Nth Carol.: Brian Zimorowicz 1.

BEST PLAYERS

Philadel.: Patrick Miller, Alex Lynden-Horn, James Hildebrand, Jonathon Loring, James Hunter.

Nth Carol.: Jason Heathcote, John Scull, Brian Zimorowicz, Kim Hemenway, Paul Duncan.

Field Umpire: Paul Reddacliff.

Game 4

Balt/Wash 2.0 8.6 (54)

New York 0.2 0.2 (2)

GOALKICKERS

Balt/Wash: Jay Levesque 3, Aaron Tyndall 2, Rich Strayer 1, Shane Frearson 1, Kevin Stanley 1.

New York: Nil.

BEST PLAYERS

Balt/Wash: Kevin Stanley, Brandon Bludau, Rob Strange, Shane Frearson, R.J. Wheelock.

New York: Zac Keane, Joel Daniher, Brett Smiley, Shane Batty.

Game 5

Boston 1.2 (8)

Philadel. 11.7 (73)

GOALKICKERS

Boston: Scott Nicholas 1.

Philadel.: Paul Giacome 2, Ryan Kavanaugh 2, James Hildebrand 2, Tom O'Halloran 2, Alex Lynden-Horn 1, Tim Koen 1, Peter Wolk 1.

BEST PLAYERS

Boston: Scott Nicholas, George Lakomy.

Philadel.: Alex Lynden-Horn, Tom O'Halloran, Patrick Miller, Paul Giacome, James Hunter.

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