Tight Battle

The beautiful weather at 20th and Olney did not translate onto the field for the Explorers as La Salle to cross-town rival St. Joesph’s 29-24 on Oct. 24.
The game was an up and down battle that had several lead changes between both teams.
Early in the match, La Salle had several chances to score, but selfishness and unnecessary penalties kept the Explorers off the board. It wasn’t until several minutes later in the game that Brendan Kelly would receive a pass from Kyle Harris for the first score of the game. Kelly would miss his conversion attempt.
St. Joe’s would respond back near the end of the first half with a score of their own. The Hawks used a quick attack with several quick taps taken for penalties.
Both teams came out of the second half with momentum and kept an even battle. The score would remain tied until freshman center Andrew Still would intercept a pass from a St. Joe’s player and run it back for the score.
Both teams showed great resiliency and battled back. St. Joe’s would score to tie the game up.
Injuries would plague the Explorers on the day. Sophomore Wing Chad Dill entered the game with a sore thigh. Senior Prop Anthony Machcinski would go down with a bruised quad while Still would join him after suffering a blow to the jaw in a tackle.
The Explorers would go back and forth with St. Joe’s as the team fought to keep pace. Fly-Half Francis Merriman would score two more tries to help the Explorers keep pace, his fifth and sixth tries of the year. The senior was named the captain before the game.
Unfortunately for the Explorers, they could not hold the lead. Shoddy officiating didn’t help their efforts. The referee was accused of bad calls and stalling the game.
While the team lost the game, they should not be discouraged. They failed to give up at all during the game and hung with one of the better teams in division II.
They play their final game of the season at home against Widener Law School on Nov. 8.

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