Scott Cobb – August 30th 2005
On Saturday, the Dallas Magpies traveled to St. Louis for the final game of the MAAFL season. The boys in black had a chance to make history by winning the first championship in team history. A squad of 22 strong made the trip, all with the hope of bringing home the cup. Heavy rains in St.Louis all week made for tough playing conditions – 95 degree heat, 90% humidity, grass shin deep, and swarms of deer flies that drew blood with every bite. The Blues were at full strength with their core players all returning from International competition. Regardless, the Magpies were ready for a battle.
The first quarter saw a tight affair. The Blues dominated the first 5 minutes of
play with stellar play out of the center from Butler and Sarbacker. The Blues moved the ball quickly and
efficiently into their forward line and kicked two quick goals. However, the Magpies settled down
possessions began to even out. With
Grant Campbell and Glen Paton in the forward line, the Magpie strategy was to
just get the ball down to the forwards and let the goal kickers do the
rest. Trailing by two goals, the
Magpies had their first shot at goal – a dribbler that stopped inches short of
crossing the line (thanks to the extremely tall grass). Then another shot – another miss by
inches. The Blues continued to move the
ball into their end, but as they’ve done all year, the Magpie defense stepped
up. From within the chaos came
perfection – The ball is moved down the field from player to player in perfect
precision directed the ball to Campbell in the pocket, and goal. The next play saw Cobb (me – shameless self
promotion) crumbing off an attempted mark by Paton and snaps one through.
The second quarter was even throughout. The two teams strength’s were evident. St. Louis was winning the ball out of the
middle and relying on their on-ballers for shots at goal. Dallas, on the other hand, was bombing the
ball to the forward line and relying on the skilled forwards. Dallas had the better play for most of the
quarter, but the Blues ended the quarter in a flurry. While Dallas ended the quarter ahead by three points, they looked
tire. Was the speedy Blues center
beginning to wear down the Magpies?
Score at the end of the half had the pies up by 3 points – Dallas
4.7.31 St.Louis 4.4.28.
The goal of the year, maybe the goal of the century,
occurred in this quarter. The ball was
delivered to the forward pocket, just to wide of the outer post, right on the
out of bounds line. A floating handball
was then sent to Cambo, who was standing right on the goal line. With no time to catch and kick, he proceeds
to do his best Pele imitation, and executed one of the best bicycle kicks ever
seen – Goal! All the Blues could do
was smile in admiration.
The 3rd quarter is the premiership quarter. And the Pies showed why they are the champs. While the Pies ended the 3rd
quarter looking tired and worn down, they came out in the 3rd with a
whole different attitude. Captian/Coach
Rackham had been sent off for the first 10 minutes of the 3rd for
questioning the umpire. His strong play
at fullback all day had proven to be a saving grace. But the Pies didn’t miss Rackham at all as Stephen Raggio almost
single handedly broke the Blues will by stopping nearly every advance the Blues
made. In the mean time, the Pies were
kicking 5 goals. Score at the end of
three was Dallas 9.7.61 to St. Louis 5.5.35.
The 4th was a mere formality. The Pies began rotating players in for
continual fresh legs. As a couple of
goals were added by each team the horn sounded and the Pies make history.
Final score: Dallas
11.9.75 defeat St. Louis 7.7.49.