World Footy News

The last three games of the day saw the Baltimore Washington Eagles up against the New York Magpies and the Denver Bulldogs, while hosts Florida were taking on the New York Magpies. Given the Eagles and Magpies were unbeaten, their game and the last game of the day would decide the tournament.

First off, the Eagles took aim at the Magpies. The Magpies were looking for some improvement over last year’s effort where they went down to the Eagles in New York. The game became a defensive struggle with both teams getting only three shots on goal in the first half. Luckily for the Eagles, Revo star, Jon Loring, made one of those a major and they took a 5 point lead into the break. The Magpies came out hard in the second half and were able to get a major through tourney MVP Joel Keating. However, the Eagles were able to get 2 more points on the board to take the game by a solitary point, 1.4 (10) to 1.3 (9). Best for the Eagles were Coach Matt Bishop and Jon Loring, while Joel Keating and Chris Murray were the best for the Pies.

With the Magpies losing, the next game gave Florida a chance to take the tournament if they could beat the Magpies and have Denver beat the Eagles in the last game. Unfortunately for the home team, they were not able to score in the first half and the Magpies had what seemed like a convincing lead for this shortened format tournament at 1.2 (8). In the second half Florida was able to get a lot more of the ball but their kicking let them down again. On the other hand, the Magpies had two straight shots and a solid win. The Magpies took the game 3.2 (20) to 1.6 (12). Best for the Pies were Joel Keating and Joey Discepola, for Florida the best were Matt Pember and C.J. Morton.

The last game of the tournament would see the Eagles taking on the team that had dismissed them at last year's Nationals, the Bulldogs. An Eagles win would guarantee victory while the Magpies had to count on a good Bulldogs win. The Eagles just shot out of the gate kicking four goals to nothing. It was probably the best half of footy any team played during the tournament. The Dogs didn’t take it lying down and answered back with two goals in the second half, but it wasn’t enough. The Eagles won the game and the tournament 4.3 (27) to 2.3 (15). It was a great way to start the year and a good confidence boost for the Eagles who host the Tigers in two weeks.

It was a great weekend of footy and the excellent job done by the Fort Lauderdale Fighting Squids.

Denver Bulldogs versus the combined Florida side (wearing the blue and white Fighting Squids jumpers)