We're off to Greeville, South Carolina to compete for the USA Rugby South Championship. Results will be posted Monday.
Remember our first game last Summer vs Treasure Coast when we barely snuck out a win. Or that game in October against USF when they ran through us? Or vs UCF a few weeks later when they poured it on in the final 20 minutes. Or vs Daytona at the Florida Cup when the referee took it away?
Now think back over this season. We began by avenging our loss vs Daytona. We beat Iron Horse and Krewe in spite of the referee, coming back in the last 8 minutes to beat Krewe. We beat Palm Beach the first week after we began to adjust our offense and by 14, What was the score against Treasure Coast, 70 - 5? Towards the end of the Sarasota game they were praying for the final whistle because we were scoring pretty much at will. A slight let down vs Ft. Lauderdale but we didn't lose and they didn't beat us either. Against Savannah, once we settled down in the 2nd half, it was a train wreck, to quote Tyrone. We own the last 20 minutes.
Did we pick up a few ringers which made the difference? No. John Hearin and Scotty came back and Bill Walker joined us, and these guys have helped us a ton - I'm not making light of that. But we also lost Silverback, Joel, Aric, Bob and many others too. My point is that by and large, the players who practiced on the field behind Cocoa Expo last Summer are pretty much the same guys who will be in Greenville this weekend. And it took a lot of hard work and running and pain and passing and yelling and rucking and more pain and more yelling and more running to get this far. And I don't think we have played our best game yet. This team has more up side every week.
That said, we also know there are no easy games ahead. Every team at this level has earned the right to be here, every team has won their division, every team has worked hard, every team is nicked up, every team is fired up, every team will play from their bench. And we're gonna get scored on and we're gonna score our share. But in the end, the team that wants it more, that keeps playing hard through the pain, through the adversity, through the fatigue, will rule the day. We will be tested to our limits; it will be a battle, a bruising fight and those who step up under these conditions will know what it really means to have played this game.
Welcome to the dance.
pedro
Posted by ScottB at April 25, 2003 08:40 AM