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Sunday, 04 November 2007 |
 The Cedar Rapids Headhunters have not played flawless rugby this season. They have not always come away with a win this season. They have not even scored in every game this year.
What the Cedar Rapids Headhunters have done this year is work hard to play as a team. They have worked hard after their normal everyday jobs to condition their bodies into vessels of endurance and strength. They have continued to improve in the face of adversity. They have sacrificed to play a game they love, rugby.
Much of that hard work and sacrifice was rewarded last Saturday when the lower seeded Headhunters dismantled the hosting Green Bay Celtics in the quarterfinals of the Midwest Playoffs. After a short week of implementing a pick and go strategy the Headhunters went to it early resulting in a Dave Isenberg try. Green Bay was not shaken
and soon after was in position to make a 21 meter penalty kick.
Midway through the first half the Headhunters defensive pressure caught up with the Celtics when their in-center mishandled a lateral that was snatched away by captain Brent Shepherd. Shepherd ran the ball twenty meters for the Headhunters second score, making it 14-3. Matt Lloyd connected later on with a 30 meter penalty kick.
The half ended shortly after Dan Feller's kick gave the Headhunters excellent field position as they were able to push over the ruck to gain possession on the five meter line. Again they went to the pick and go strategy with Shepherd scoring his second try of the day. The score was 22-3.
The Wisconsin League champs were able to stifle the Headhunters offense the first part of the second half and they were eventually persistent enough to make it into the try zone themselves. With less than twenty minutes to go in the half the Headhunters stiffened up at that point and were not going to let this one slip away.
Matt Lloyd chased down a thirty meter bounding kick by Brent Shepherd inside the try zone for the Headhunters final try, but it wasn't their last score. Lloyd tacked on a 24 meter penalty kick late in the game.
Lloyd had a sensational game with his foot going 3 out of 4 in conversions and 2 out of 3 on penalty kicks. Including his try Lloyd was responsible for 17 of the Headhunters points and was named man of the match. The Headhunters won 32-8.
The fall rugby season is now over for the 7-2 Headhunters. The Cedar Rapids club will prepare this winter to go on to the Midwest Semi Finals which will take place in Chicago next spring. They will play the Eastside Banshees who are the Minnesota League Champions. The Banshees beat the Bremer County Bucks last Saturday 20-17 ending the hopes of a Headhunters vs. Bucks rematch and an all Iowa Semifinal.
The Cedar Rapids Headhunters already had a busy off season ahead of them. They just started to organize a women's team, they are launching an under 19 city team this spring, and they are continuing to grow their Men's B-side team. Now they also need to stay focused on winning. President Shawn Woodward had this to say, "I love to be busy in the off season, because it makes the time away from the pitch go so much faster."
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Last Updated ( Thursday, 13 December 2007 )
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