ST.LOUIS, MO. - The Thunder Chickens opened the game with intensity and great ball control. They worked effectively for the opening five minutes and kept the attack going well. By ten minutes into the game Rolla had settled down and pressured us into making mistakes. They attacked well after a penalty kick and passed our full back to score the opening try. 0-5.
At 19 minutes into the game Rolla had worked their way down to near our goal line and attacked from the scrum to score again. 0-10. Principia came back hard to fight through these tough circumstances. We earned three quick penalties, resulting in good attacking position. We were about 10 yards out from their try line and set up a pod attack formation. After two quick attacks
Tyler Marunde was able to punch through and score our opening try.
Trevor Marunde converted the kick, closing the score to 7-10.
Principia continued to play well and the game flowed up and back for the next 10 minutes. Unfortunately we had a poor ruck which resulted in a turn over to Rolla, who punted the ball down field and chased it into the goal for another try. This closed out the half with a score of 7-17.
After the halftime break Principia kicked off to Rolla, who caught us napping and ran the full length of the field to score. 7-22. The game now settled into a close fought battle up and down the field.
(During the next section of the game, while the coaches tended to the needs of an injured player, Rolla was able to score a try and convert it, leaving the score at 7-29.) We defended well but ended up defending our 5 meter line anyway, at about the end of what would be the third quarter. We had two of our starting scrummers out and the substitutes resulted in an imbalance in our experience levels. Rolla capitalized by pushing us back into our in-goal and scoring. 7-36.
With nearly 20 minutes to play things looked bleak but the Thunder Chickens regained their composure and continued to play with everything they had left. They attacked hard and defended with equally intense passion. The game ebbed and flowed with Principia getting a couple of great scoring opportunities, unfortunately they were not able to convert any of those into points. Despite substitutes and facing fatigue the Thunder Chickens finished the game with fortitude and courage.
