Results: September 30
Kansas City Blues D2 vs Omaha Goats
43-17
Kansas City Blues D1 vs Metropolis
43-27
The first Kansas City Blues D1/D2 double header of the year took place this past Saturday at the KC Current Facility in Riverside MO. One overarching theme of this years home game, The Heat, attended the game as well as the temperature of the air was 90 degrees and the temp of the turf was undoubtably higher than that. The thick humid air greeted our friends from the North with a warm hug as they stepped out of their vans, cars and trucks and onto the pitch. The Blues were waiting for them.
The D2 side played a very competitive side from Omaha. The Goats have classically been a tough side and Saturday was no different. Their number 10 Hunter Sterba was impressive on the day, engineering the offense, making quick runs and fast passes and generally being a very effective player. Big days from the Blues side came from Blues debutant Louis Armstrong (how's that for a name for the Kansas City Blues huh?) who had not one but two tries on the day for his first league match. Vice captain and wing JT Bergner added a try to his day. Btw shoutout to JT who is the resident Quartermaster for the Blues and puts in a whole heck of a lot of time helping to set up, tear down and make sure the field is ready to play. Tom Murphy, otherwise known as the most personable and most handsome player on the team, and Hela Arbigail also added tries to rack up a final score of 43-17.
The D2 side is now 1-0 in league matches. But with the good also comes the bad and we want to take a moment to recognize players Silas Johnson and Sam Tualatamalelagi. Both suffered serious leg injuries on the day and are now at home resting, laid up with a leg up as they say. If you have contact info for either, we encourage you to reach out with words of support. If you don't and want to, reach out to Blues leadership. The player who gets hurt suddenly has a large chunk of their life taken away from them in an instant, and in situations like these with such serious injuries there is ramifications past just the loss of the sport. We want to recognize the risks and sacrifices our players take when putting their bodies on the line for the club and for them to know the club is with them the whole way.
Afterward, The D1 side welcomed longtime foe, Metropolis rugby club to our new home for the first time. The game started off all Metro. Longtime Metro 8 man Teli, who is now playing 10 (I know right?, he is a talented player) started the action off with a pick and go that caught the Blues defensive line by surprise and touched down the first Try of the game. Shortly after their wing kicked over the top off a scrum and was chased down by Blondie (Carter Beelman) and touched down for another try. With the Blues now two scores down the vibe in the stadium was on edge, but young buck star Osi Nauer hit a fantastic line off 9 with the ball deep in Metro territory for our first score of the game. Isikeli "Ezzy" Fukofuka pulled a Teli and picked and went when Metro did not cover the breakdown, leading to a breakaway. He was tackled but popped from the ground to a trailing Zach Cohen who took the ball in for another score. Then the star youngin' Osi was back, intercepting a back line pass from Metro and taking it for yet another score before half.
Metro was not going away however. They capitalized off our own line break as 10 Sam Chapman broke the line but could not connect with his trail runner, the Metro do it all machine Teli picked it up, passed outside while taking a hit and the wing took it 50 yards for a score. Our boys were responding all day however. Drove down again deep into Metro territory, a metro penalty gave us a quick tap at the 5 which went to big Matt Wirken who powered in for a try under the posts. Shortly after a Blues lineout inside the 22 turned into a maul, which marched deep into Metro territory and flanker Danny Apgar peeled off the back and dove into paydirt for the try. Metro would score again after a number of goaline forward crashes to bring the score within 6. Longtime Blues back Blake Baty, who came on as a back sub in the second half, would have a big part in the last two scores. After taking a nice run off an overlap, Baty would hit the ground on a tackle and pop to Ryan Ellison, another back sub, who cruised into the try zone . Then, as the finale captain and number 8 Jimmy Lillis took an 8 man pick off a 5 meter scrum and kicked to Blake again who would power it into the corner for the final try of the day and a final score of 43-27.
Your Kansas City Blues now hold a record of 3-2 and will enjoy a bye week this week as the D2 side takes on the Lindenwood Developmental side who comes into town. D1's will then travel to Wisconsin, who is looking much improved this season with a recent win over the Chicago Lions, for a much important match to the Midwest Premiership standings. A playoff berth is well within the grasp. One win at a time. #LB03
Kansas City Blues D2 vs St. Omaha Goats
Roster
1) Jon Khalil 2) Charles Donnici 3) Caleb Boyce 4) Louis Armstrong 5) Gabe Caldas 6) Carter Martin 7) Tom Murphy 8) Joe Dao 9) Tommy Eads 10) Gavin Kirk (C) 11) Sam Tualatamalelagi 12) Mona Faitau 13) Cameron Kirkland 14) JT Bergner (VC) 15) Josh Watson 16) Kyle Richardson 17) Jarrett Malotte 18) Hela Arbigail 19) Tauivi Olamaleva 20) Fabi Bortolotti 21) Silas Johnson 22) Wyatt Hensley 23) Juwan Peace
Kansas City Blues D1 vs Metropolis
Roster
1) Isikeli Fukofuka 2) Mike Lillis 3) Esylad, Seif 4) Jonathan Bloomfield 5) Zach Cohen 6) Shundell Williams 7) Danny Apgar 8) Jimmy Lillis (C) 9) Lavea, Tuuaga 10) Sam Chapman 11) Daniel Tapusoa 12) Greg Fry (VC) 13) Aren Martin 14) Osi Nauer 15) Lewis, Ty 16) Omar Tapia 17) Scott McAvoy 18) Generation Vito 19) Konnor Thompson 20) Matt Wirken 21) Ryan Ellison 22) Nick Hartley 23) Blake Baty
STAFF:
Scott Kram - Head Coach
Jamie Dever - Pack Coach
Darragh Leader - Backs Coach
Casey Cummings - Assistant Coach
Darlwin Nelson - Assistant Coach
Kyle Izard - Manager
