Young Sharks Impress In Home Opener
Following an hour delay, the 2013 AMNRL season began on Saturday at Falls Township Park with the Bucks County Sharks beating the New York Raiders 54 - 8. The Raiders faced some travel issues and were hurting for numbers, but played a tough, hard-fought game nevertheless.“I wanted the lads to put all the delays out of their heads and just focus on completing our sets,” said Sharks Coach Steve ‘Tomo’ Thompson. With that in mind, The Sharks controlled the tempo of the game from start to finish, with some minor exceptions during the 4th quarter when the game was already in hand. Defensively, The Sharks were very average, allowing 2 tries to a Raiders team that carried no subs and had players that were banged up with pre-season injuries. Although there were a handful of new players on the field for this game, Coach Tomo was not pleased with the defensive effort and numerous penalties committed in the 2nd half. The Sharks have played solid defensive since their return to the AMNRL 3 years ago, finishing near the top in points against for the past 2 seasons. Points for the Sharks came early and often, until the Raiders put a string of quality sets together, in addition to The Sharks committing a mess of penalties near the end of the game.
Scoring for the Sharks was led by 3 players with 2 tries each, one of them being Man-of-the-Match Dan Johnson. Dan, a 24-year old former Defensive Back at Millersville University in Pennsylvania and local Pennsbury High School Football alumnus, has been playing full time at Fullback for the past 2 seasons and is starting to solidify himself as an offensive threat. Likewise, another member of the Sharks 2011 Rookie Class, 25-year old Jeff Pesature, touched the ball down in the try zone twice on Saturday, displaying the American development Bucks County has quietly had since their return to the competition. Stand-Off Brian McCall, 23, also had two tries on the day, in addition to the numerous assists to his teammates. This Sharks squad is composed primarily of players under the age of 25, as well as the grizzled veterans the rest of the league has come to know and love (or hate in most cases). Also, with the exception of Player/Coach Steve Thompson, who was born overseas England, these recent Sharks team have been 100% American, something the players have embraced.
The Sharks will host the upstart Nova Eagles next week, a team that upset the PA Bulls 38-20 on Saturday, and looks much stronger than last year with the addition of some imports and new domestic talent. Coach Thompson will be sure to focus on defense at practice this week, and hope to work out all the wrinkles with the Sharks offensive discipline.
Scoring
Dan Johnson - 2
Jeff Pesature - 2
Brian McCall - 2
Steve Tormey - 1
Tim McCall - 1
Steven Thompson - 1
David Nightlinger - 1
Source : http://bcsharks.com
Scoring for the Sharks was led by 3 players with 2 tries each, one of them being Man-of-the-Match Dan Johnson. Dan, a 24-year old former Defensive Back at Millersville University in Pennsylvania and local Pennsbury High School Football alumnus, has been playing full time at Fullback for the past 2 seasons and is starting to solidify himself as an offensive threat. Likewise, another member of the Sharks 2011 Rookie Class, 25-year old Jeff Pesature, touched the ball down in the try zone twice on Saturday, displaying the American development Bucks County has quietly had since their return to the competition. Stand-Off Brian McCall, 23, also had two tries on the day, in addition to the numerous assists to his teammates. This Sharks squad is composed primarily of players under the age of 25, as well as the grizzled veterans the rest of the league has come to know and love (or hate in most cases). Also, with the exception of Player/Coach Steve Thompson, who was born overseas England, these recent Sharks team have been 100% American, something the players have embraced.
The Sharks will host the upstart Nova Eagles next week, a team that upset the PA Bulls 38-20 on Saturday, and looks much stronger than last year with the addition of some imports and new domestic talent. Coach Thompson will be sure to focus on defense at practice this week, and hope to work out all the wrinkles with the Sharks offensive discipline.
Scoring
Dan Johnson - 2
Jeff Pesature - 2
Brian McCall - 2
Steve Tormey - 1
Tim McCall - 1
Steven Thompson - 1
David Nightlinger - 1
Source : http://bcsharks.com
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