Philadelphia Hawks Go Back-to-Back at Eastern Regional Championships
In a massive day of footy in Raleigh, the Philadelphia Hawks repeated their efforts of 2018, following up their inaugural ERT Championship to bring home the cup once again. Here’s how the action unfolded.
Game 1: Philadelphia Hawks v Baltimore Dockers
Starting off the morning against the Baltimore Dockers, the first five minutes saw plenty of back and forth, with John Hinchen finally breaking it loose with a right foot goal from the front pocket to open the Hawks account for the day. A flurry of activity across the middle of the ground saw a few threats at both ends, but long marking chains from the Dockers were repelled by a stout Hawks back line. The last few minutes of the half saw a quick series of goals, with Hinchen following up with a second goal while Damien Holland slotted his first. At the other end, Baltimore’s Ian Payne drained a long goal from a free kick to keep the Dockers within striking distance. After the first twenty minutes, Philadelphia held on to a 15-point lead.
Opening up the second half, Chris Gough dropped a long ball to the center square for a Hinchen mark, nailing a short-range kick for his third for the day. Working through the middle of the field, the Dockers looked to get something going, but good pursuit from the Hawks and rushed kicks turned goal opportunities into behinds, including Jon “Coach” Loring’s pressure turning a point-blank chance from the Dockers into a touched behind. Good rotation and hard work through the contests from the likes of Greg Glasgow and Mark Cannatelli resulted in the Hawks holding the ball in the front half, but failing to capitalize. Payne sank a second goal with under five minutes remaining, but that wouldn’t be enough, as the Hawks kept pushing back every attack, cruising home to a 14-point margin of victory.
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3.4 |
4.8 (32) |
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1.1 |
2.6 (18) |
Game 2: Philadelphia Hawks v. Columbus Cats
Going into the afternoon game, the Hawks got to face the Columbus Cats, who had defeated the New York Magpies to open the day. Smart kicks moved the Hawks up the field, and while Adham Makki’s goal attempt was repelled by Columbus, youngster Rohan Crawley corralled the loose ball to feed a long hand pass to center square, with Aleks Fedoriw nudging it through to open the scoring. The resulting center bounce saw tough nut Brett Hester rove a Columbus tap to start a chain, resulting in Fedoriw slotting his second goal in under a minute’s time. Ryan Henry’s hard work through the contest led to another Hinchen goal, and soon after helped kick start an around-the ground chain that dropped to Holland in front of the sticks. The Hawks continued to be quicker in the contest, with Gough and Ted Heron combining to feed Fedoriw his hat trick goal for the half, heading into halftime up by 26.
A flurry of behinds and intermittent stoppages kicked off the second half, until Hinchen collected a loose ball out and kicked into the forward 50 to Des Cairns, who played on and, following an inventive handball to himself, slotted it for a goal. This set off a landslide of goals, as the Hawks continued to provide superior clearance from stoppages. Hinchen added to his total for the day, while Crawley added one of his own. Columbus was game, with two goals from Eric Politz, but another goal from Holland and a capstone goal from Jay Sacci nailed the coffin shut on Columbus.
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5.3 |
10.8 (68) |
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1.1 |
3.3 (21) |