A tough defensive fight on both sides, White Plains were unable to catch up to Old Blue and lost by a score of 12 to 19.
Old Blue dominated the first, playing mostly in White plains half and scoring in the 20th minute off an 8-man pickup fed to winger #11 Michael StClaire. White Plains seemed up to the task as they only allowed that one score in the first half even when down a man with prop, Brock Duncan in the sin bin. White Plains went into the half down 7-0.
"This game was a battle between 2 teams looking to knock each other out. Plain and simple," said Coach Dahlem. "Old Blue exploited our back three in the first half, and in game like this, everyone has to perform.
The beginning of the second half spelled the same as Old Blue continued to control the ball, though White plains began to gain more possession.
““Recent Northeastern graduate Matt Murphy played out of his mind at flanker and is the future of this club.””
Old Blue scored 2 more times by Center Michael Okech and Winger, Lance Cavanaugh, in the second half creating separation between the two sides.
Substitute and long time White Plains member, Tristan Leclere proved to be a big difference in the match. Leclere scored twice in the second half, first off of a penalty on the 5 meter line, the second finishing off a strong kick return by Arber Cobaj.
"Down 2 tries, we made a few tactical substitutions that played out very well in our favor. Arber Cobaj and Tristan LeClere were the sparks we needed and performed very well when given the chance."
Leclere scored twice in the second half, first off of a penalty on the 5 meter line, the second finishing off a strong kick return by Arber Cobaj.
Arber Cojab splitting the defense set up Tristan Leclere for his second try of the night.
Again, the piling of mistakes by White plains proved to be the difference between the two sides.
"Everyone wearing the jersey that night understood what a big game this was for the club. We came up short this week because we did not execute some basic skills under pressure, which is very uncharacteristic for this group of players" said Dahlem
"New Haven is the biggest game of season. We will have a few players ready for selection that were not last week including club captain Don Anderson and Jim Tregurtha."
Despite the loss the club is growing stronger and fixing their mistakes hoping to put it together for the match this Saturday at New Haven.
"Regardless of results, we will never compromise our integrity and the core values we have established that will lead us towards our goal of Empire GU Champion. It's supposed to be hard. The hard is what makes this great."