Back Bay vs. Santa Barbara Game Notes (1/29/11)

Written by Carlos Jovel Jr

In a typical beautiful and sunny day in Southern California, the Sharks travelled north up the coast to take on the Grunions of Santa Barbara.

From the kickoff Back Bay tried to impose their will on the home team but with sloppy play and scrappy defense Santa Barbara held well. The Sharks took the lead with an early penalty kick by Sebastian Pedreira. As the game continued Back Bay began to push forward and play inside the opposition’s 22 meter line but a missed pass was quickly converted into a try underneath the posts by the home team. In a case of déjà vu, almost from the kickoff, the Sharks saw Santa Barbara’s winger race down the sidelines to score a second try underneath the post to give the Grunions a 14-3 lead after just 15 minutes of play. The second try left the Sharks stunned but not out, as they began their comeback with some hard running and good ball retention, which quickly turned into a penalty kick taken by Sebastian to make the score 14-6. Back Bay’s forward pack began to take over the game, especially in the set pieces (scrums and lineout’s) and right before half time after a series of pick and go’s lead to the Sharks first try of the match. The game had begun to turn in favor of Back Bay and at the half they only found themselves down by one point. Halftime score was Santa Barbara 14 – Back Bay 13.

The second half kickoff began with a serious wake up call by the Grunions as a missed played kick by the back three lead to a try by the home team. Making the score 21-13 with just three minutes into the second half. Back Bay responded with some aggressive running and pressured the Grunion’s defense alignment and quickly took advantage of a penalty with a kick taken by Sebastian. The game continued with Back Bay in control of the ball for most of the half but Santa Barbara did well to protect their try line. Until Back Bay had a lineout 5 meters out from the home teams try line and Jaco Volk dotted down after an impressive rolling maul by the forwards for a try. Santa Barbara did well to respond and after a series of moves by the backline and forwards scored a try making the score Santa Barbara 26- Back Bay 21.

There was a sense of urgency by Back Bay now, there was less than 10 minutes remaining in the game and they were trailing by five points. Ball control became a huge factor in the game as once again the ball was placed in the hands of the Shark’s forward pack. As Back Bay forwards started their march towards Santa Barbara’s try line they were awarded a penalty, which was taken with a quick tap. This lead to another rolling maul that saw scrumhalf Taylor Alston score in the corner of the try zone to even the match up at 26 points all. Unfortunately for Back Bay the conversion was missed and the score remained all tied up. With less then five minutes to play Santa Barbara kicked off and a miss play by the Sharks lead to a lineout 5 meters out from the try line. After the line out, which was won by the Grunions, a serious of runs towards the line by the home team was met with tough defense by Back Bay. Until a penalty was called on Back Bay for being offside, this seems to be the game winner for Santa Barbara since the kick was just right of the post within the 22 meter line. The kick was taken and as the ball sailed through the air it was almost certain the Grunions had won the match until the ball hit the post and bounced back into play. Back Bay recovered the ball and began making one last push towards the try line but a forward pass ended the play and the match. Back Bay had come back to tie Santa Barbara 26 to 26. Both teams felt as if they let a win get away from them but in the end it was a fair way to end this very exciting match.

Back Bay’s second side made it two in a row as they defeated Santa Barbara’s second side 28-22. Man of the Match honors went to Patrick Reedy (1^st side) and Will Kennedy (2^nd side). Back Bay will gear up to take on an old rival, as Santa Monica come to down to A Street and take on the Sharks.

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