Results: September 9
Kansas City Blues D1 vs Wisconsin RFC
27-16
Sloppy Joe, Sloppy Sloppy Joe!
We know you Blues love em’ Sloppy!
This past Saturday an excellent crowd (thank you) of Blues Supporters gathered at Field 3 of the new home of the Blues, The KC Current Training Facility, to watch the home opener of the 2023 season. The Waterboys for each team had a larger and more important role than expected, as the sun beat down harder than forecasted, making for a less than comfortable welcome to the new home for both our fans and the Wisconsin boys from the North. But in times like this there isn’t anything to do but to Just Go With it, and that’s what both teams did. Kickoff went up and our first home match in Riverside was off.
The Blues kicked off, and resident Blues Big Daddy Chase Higgins leaped into the air and plucked the kickoff out of thin air in one of the more impressive individual plays of the season. Kicking off and stealing the opening kickoff is a great way to strike sorrow into the heart of the opponent and set a tone. Shortly thereafter, prop Isikeli “Ezzy” Fukofuka broke through the line and with a move that would prove to be a theme in the first half, gave a wrap around off load to Bulletproof Inside Center Greg Fry. Greg took it the rest of the way into the try zone and touched it down for the first score of the game, less than a minute and a half into the game. 7-0 Blues.
The next notable play came a few minutes later. After a penalty and a nice kick to touch, Wisconsin was poised for a lineout at the Blues 5 meter line. Conventional wisdom would tell the defense to stay down and prepare for the maul, but quick thinking by Blues Captain Jimmy Lillis zigged when most would zag and he optioned for a contest. The ball went to the front and was broken up by the Blues jumper, Blues ball. Thanks ‘cap. A few moments later and a line break was corralled by #15 Aren Martin, who most certainly saved a try.
Back and forth rugby ensued, which started a bit of a trend of the day. Neither team could string phases together, no team’s relationship with the ball lasted and it felt like 50 First Dates. A few penalties and kicks for points made the score 10 – 6 Blues. If you thought we were done with Ezzy offloads... well then you're wrong again Colonel Sanders. An Ezzy break and this time a backhanded pop to the captain, Jimmy Lillis who dove into the try zone for another Blues Score. 17-6 Blues. Blues pulled a Billy Madison and went back to the school of hard Greg Fry lines on the next possession, breaking a gain for 60 yards. A once again beautiful set of offloads into the try zone was called back for a forward pass but a Wisconsin penalty allowed for The Do Over. A rare Blues losing scrum lost the ball but in what may have been the play of the day, Zach Cohen (in his first D1 start) blocked an exit kick, chased down the bouncing ball, helped on defense with Wing Daniel Tapusoa and then pounced on a loose ball in the try zone for a score. No Murder Mystery here, that was all Zach Cohen on that one. 22-6 Blues.
And that is when we all went to the lunch room for some sloppy joes. It seemed as if we could not hold on to the ball. Wisconsin would hold possession for nearly all of the rest of the first half, with the bright spot being the Blues goal line defense. Phase after phase Wisconsin ran just on their side of the try line but could not seem to gain The Longest Yard. However, after another failed Blues possession, they did find paydirt before the half. 22-11.
Second half could have been a song from The Wedding Singer. The drunk version of the wedding singer.
“we try our hardest on the goaline,
If we save this score we’ll be fine
We blow up a defensive ruck,
We know you don’t give a ****,
We want you ball, to give our love,
But when push comes to shove
Another gameball divorce on file,
So back to the goal line pile!”
Jokes aside, we played hard but sloppy in that second half. We did have some bright spots that included an Osi Nauer long run, some nice play by Ty Lewis after he had to step up into the 9 spot after an injury to Tuuaga Lavea and a try score by flanker Danny Apgar. And in a game like this, when you don’t necessarily have your A game, that is what you need. Gotta do what you do best and pull it out. When Happy’s putter wasn’t on he leaned on his Driver. Gotta go to your strengths and pull one out when you need it. Grown Ups still pull it together when they have baby puke on their shirt and The Animal still hunts even when he’s tired. The Dirty Work needs done and someone has to do it. Blues won one of those games and we are proud of it. 2-0 and headed north to Chicago! LBO3!
Kansas City Blues D1 vs Wisconsin RFC
Roster
1) Fukofuka, Isikeli 2) Lomas, Stephen 3) Esylad, Seif 4) Zach Cohen 5) Tonderai, 6) Kambarami Higgins, Chase 7) Apgar, Danny 8) Lillis, Jimmy (C) 9) Laveta, 10) T Lewis, Ty 11) Renner, Kyle 12) Fry, Greg (AC) 13) Osi Nauer 14) Tapusoa, Daniel 15) Martin, Aren 16) Lillis, Michael 17) McBride, Chris 18) Tapia, Omar 19) Williams, Shundell 20) Ness, Andrew 21) Bryant, Blakeston 22) Bloomfield, Jono 23) Acchavaria, Alejandro
STAFF:
Scott Kram - Head Coach
Jamie Dever - Pack Coach
Darragh Leader - Backs Coach
Casey Cummings - Assistant Coach
Darlwin Nelson - Assistant Coach
Kyle Izard - Manager
