April 10, 2010

The Glendale Raptors traveled to Portland, Oregon to play the Oregon Sport Union (ORSU) and came away with a comprehensive victory, 94 – 7.

The Raptors started strong and never faltered running in 17 tries for the day.  The try parade was lead by Winger Mike Pettes who scored four tries, followed by Fullback, Dewon Reed and Inside Center, Mike Papp with three each.   PJ Mackm, Wing and Reserve Scrum Half, Josh Schmitz came away with two tries for the day. Scoring single tries were Loose Forwards Cory Lambert, Brad Winbush and Ryan Chapman.

Coach Bullock was pleased to observe the Raptors maintaining their high level of play throughout the match while scoring nine times with multi-phase play.  “We finally demonstrated the patience to win Ruck after Ruck by waiting until the defense was broken then moving in to score.  This is an area that we have been working diligently on and I am pleased with the improvement. Although not reflected in the final outcome, ORSU scrummed very well and were big and strong running the ball at the fringes of the tackle/contest.  They forced us to play physical defense and had to reorganized quickly in order to negate their size advantage.”

Next up for the Raptors will be the Division I Round of 32 Playoff Match with the Dallas Reds, Saturday, May 8, 2010 at 2 pm at Infinity Park, Glendale, CO.