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Mid-Hudson Honors John Falatyn at This Year's Can-Am
Tourney August 25, 2003 – Another solid turnout for the Mid-Hudson RFC at last week's tourney in Lake Placid. Unlike previous years where many of us rented ourselves out to different teams to get some action, this year we elected to enter a team using Falatyn's name and put in an old boys team. They figured we weren't old enough to play in over-40s ... we weren't thanks to our friends from New Paltz heritage ... but our average age was well over 40. They placed in over-35 with a few traveling sides from Canada, Cleveland, and somebody name Potomac Athletic Club (PAC) - yeah, the team that won the national championship a few times in their past. Who cares anyway, we're just in it for a game or two with no expectation of advancing. And, we got to field the game on the same pitch we won our B-Division championship on some many years ago. We were actually just a few bodies short from having a full pure-bred Mad Dog side so maybe there is hope for next year. Anyway, with several tourists from Holland (via New Paltz) on our side, with other Mad Dogs traveling from Atlanta, Florida, Pennsylvania, NYC, Boston, and of course the Hudson Valley, we kicked off the tournament against a Cleveland Area Rugby Playing Side (CARPS). What a game. Nip and tuck in the 1st half with staunch defense (where did that come from) from Mid-Hudson only found us down a few tries at halftime. But we roared back thanks to the play of our Dutch inside center. One try was a 3/4 field scamper which brought us to within 2 points at 23 -21. With only minutes left in the game and Mid-Hudson in possession of the ball and working thru several rucks/mauls we ended up with a set piece at their 40 meter line. Peter McNierney stepped into the line from fullback position and received the set scrum ball with a perfect drop kick that sailed over the goal posts to clinch the game for us. Errh, except for the part about him stepping into the line ... instead we swung the ball thru the backs and lost it in a tough tackle with the ref whistling the game. Amazing that we can pull people out of bed, drag them across state lines, throw on their uniform and perform this well in a pinch. The CARPS also enjoyed the game beyond the fact that they won. Our next game was against PAC and we expected the onslaught that we obtained. They were big in every position, they ran hard, they had plays, and they eventually wore us down ... and once the dike broke they ran a few quick tries in. Despite us substituting more and more younger players we weren't able to make an impact against this team. No wonder that they won this bracket the last few years. Anyway, we were positioned for the consolation final but both teams blinked so we declared the day over and many (no, not Manny) elected to pick up games with other teams in the tourney. Just for the record, I noted the following honorable mentions: Craig Serinsky - longest (domestic) journey home Probably left some of the more notables out. And, we probably would have had many more had the stupid Cottage restaurant had any Guinness on tap to serve us on Saturday night. Player of the weekend has to be Joel Venables. Once again, he managed to play a few games with us (okay, maybe just a few minutes) and then pick up with the Old Blue freight train and ride that into the finals and eventual Club division victory. He even managed to get two other guys who played for us to get picked up and play in the Club final ... and they played well too. If you stayed for the finals you would have been treated to a gent doing a naked beer slide down the hill towards my family (all teenage girls) ... it made their highlight film. Enjoy your summer, or if you're interested, we're still tossing the ball around on Thursday nights in Red Hook ... |