Seattle Seawolves looked like they would be the ones to show winless Anthem some mercy Friday night, especially with the halftime score at 10-8 for the Seawolves. But a strong second half got the Seattle team a four-try win, 29-13, but still not enough to outpace Houston in the standings.
Houston, after beating Utah, 29-24 on Saturday, leads Western Conference with 39 points, compared to Seattle’s 38. Houston has a chance to stack up points this coming week in their game against Anthem, now 0-9. Seattle travels to Louisiana to take on the New Orleans Gold.
NOLA took their turn on Anthem two weeks ago, winning 40-5, before a week off. New Orleans is third (with 21 points) in the Eastern Conference, far behind New England (with 30) and Chicago (27) and one point ahead of Old Glory DC.
The biggest surprise in the past weekend’s competition was Chicago Hounds’ 26-20 win over New England, a team someone once said was too big to fail. Maybe the Free Jacks (6-3) have not recovered from the 29-21 defeat at the hands of the Seawolves on April 24. The Free Jacks were tied twice in the first half against Chicago and behind 13-8 at the half. They fell 13 points behind the Hounds and depended on a late try and conversion to get one bonus point for being within seven of the winner.
Looking at Utah’s past two wins (31-24 over Old Glory DC and 33-32 over San Diego), it looked as though they had a chance of a win over Houston on Saturday, but not to be. A.J. Alatimu kicked nine of Houston’s 29 points. Utah fell behind 10-3 at the half and never had the lead despite Houston drawing two yellow cards within three minutes in the second half. Final score: 29-24. Utah is two points behind Dallas (26 to 24) in the standings, out of fourth place and a playoff spot.
The Jackals lost to San Diego, 30-24, on Sunday. A remarkable turnaround of the Legion, who could not find the try zone in Week 9 against Houston, losing 33-0. If San Diego had to pass through the try zone to leave the Houston stadium, they might still be there. The Sabercats scored five tries in that game, converted four of them, including a penalty try with the conversion included. Even with a red card given to Houston at the 39th minute, San Diego could not score a try in the 20 minutes while the Houston hooker was in the sin bin. What did they produce? A yellow card, which got the teams even with 14 men each.
But enough of that. Let’s talk about the Seawolves win over Anthem. It started with a try from a maul coming off a line out. Try by Duquan Perry, conversion by Sam Windsor.
Windsor added a penalty kick for 10 at the half, and Anthem had a penalty kick and scored a try with good running and passing. Seawall defense looked good; offense needed a boost.
It took 13 minutes into the second half for the boost to come with another maul off a lineout. Try by Joe Taufete’e.
Then came a kick ahead and a try by Windsor, who also converted. How many positions did Sam play in that game?
Huw Taylor, back after a suspension, got a try at the 67th minute, converted by Windsor.
There were two yellow cards against the Seawolves, one that came at the 80th minute, which Anthem needed to score one more try against the 14-man Seawolves. When and where does that time in the sin bin get served?
Next up for Seawolves: May 11, 12:00PM PDT (YURVIEW, ROOT SPORTS, THE RUGBY NETWORK)
