The Washington Irish took the pitch in Accokeek, Maryland determined to come out with a win and a bonus point.  There was a slight drizzle and chill in the air, but spirits were high.  The sidelines were packed with a rogue's gallery of Irish alumni and walking wounded. Thompson was limping, Luke was smoking, and Duma was drinking.  The sidelines were pumped to cheer the lads on.  1pm quickly came and the Irish were ready to go.

Kick Off. John Hansen kicks off deep into Rocky Gorge territory. Loose play followed and resulted in a scrum. Irish win the scrum, but loose the ball seconds later resulting in a Gorge line out.  Gorge wins their throw.  Morgan Connelly had a nice steal to give the ball back to the Irish. Play resulted in a scrum won by the Irish.  Roark at #9 passes out to the backline.  Brian Dosi at #7 came up in support and scored a heads up run away try  dotting down in the far corner.  Hansen had  a nice boot to pick up the additional 2. Irish up 7-0 in the early minutes.

Kick Off. Play results in an Irish scrum. Irish win the scrum led by new tighthead Chago Ramirez in for a Timmy Donovan who was out of town at a wedding ( boo, hiss). The Irish scrum again and shortly there after and steal one from Gorge with Chris Burg securing the ball off of a scrum gone to shite.  The Irish attack goes forward.  Pittsburgh Tim had a nice a run in the centers resulting in a lineout at the Gorge 22. Lineout is lost, but Irish recover the ball.  Hansen passes to Colby who dishes to Pat Fritz for nice run deeper into the Gorge 22. The Irish forwards then take 'Hammer' balls to suck in the Gorge defensive line.  Once gaps are created the ball finds its way to Hansen who has a nice run to score under the Gorge posts.  Hansen converts his try. Irish up 14-0

Kick Off. Kick goes straight out.  Scrum center. Gorge gets pinged for an early engage.  Then the Irish get called for their own offense and head back 10 meters. Loose play follows up to the Gorge 22 sparked by a nice pop pass while on the deck from Pat Sanford to Chris Roark. Morgan Connelly followed this up by a nice low to the ground run of his own.  The ball went through the backline finding its way to Justin Burg to score in the corner. Irish up 19-0

Kick Off.  Pope is on for an injured Dosi and has a nice poach steal to start things off. Pat Sanford trucks over a Gorge defender to enter the their 22. Line out at the Gorge 22.  Gorge wins their throw, but Tim and Colby make them pay with a vicious gang tackle.  Irish recover the ball and Pat Fritz has a nice slicing run. The ball is turned over and Gorge is on the attack. They find their way to the Irish 5 meter.  A brutal goal line stance ensues.  Hard hitting on both sides can be heard on the sidelines.  Rich Viera, thinking it was a playoff game, gets sin binned.  The call was actually on the team for two professional fouls in a row and Viera was just unlucky.  Gorge run off the penalty, a maul ensues and Gorge fall in to the ground to score the try. Irish up 19-5.

Kick Off. Scrum follows shortly.   Pittsburgh Tim again has a nice hard run.  Lineout at the Irish 22.  Fire ball.  Gorge gets lucky and scampers in for a 'gimme' try.  Irish up 19-10

Kick Off.  Loose play follows to end the half.

Kick Off. Veira out of the box. Loose play follows, ball goes to Hansen and he is decked by the Gorge Tighthead.  Hansen leaves field due to copious amounts of blood. Box on for Hansen.   Scrum follows.  Irish win, play winds up at the Gorge 22. Irish lose lineout.  Gorge makes a run.  John Baker off Tennessee Spitler on. Spitler intercepts the ball and quickly recycles it. Irish get called for a penalty.  Gorge attack goes to the Irish 22.  Chago off, Sev on.  Roark goes from #9 to #1 (How often do you see that?).  Gorge fowards are picking and going inching closer to the Irish try line.  Scrum.  Gorge scroes off of the scrum from 10 meters out. Irish up 19 - 17.

Kick Off. Irish Line out at the Goge 10 meter.  Connelly has a powerful run in phase play and gets tackled one meter out from scoring. Irish keep attacking, but knock on.  Scrum.  Scrum again, ball out to the Irish backline Alex Z. runs to the 5 meter mark. The boys ruck over, but the ball is lost to Gorge who had hands in the ruck, but no call. Gorge kicks to clear. Loose play follows on both sides. The ball goes to prop/scrumhalf and part time Ninja Chris Roark who burns all the Gorge defenders on the outside to score an awesome save the day try.  Roark dots down between the posts.  Box converts. Irish up 26-17 in the closing minutes.

Kick Off. Pope has a nice run to start things off.  Box kicks to clear the 22.  Line out to Irish is won by Sanford.  Gorge steals ball and rumble in to score a try as time expires. Irish up 26-22 Full Time.  Irish get BP for 4 tries.

Killer B's

The B's took the field determined to sing at the end of the day.  The scoring started early and often.  Sev scored the first try.  Moriarty from BYU scored shortly there after.  A great game was marred by several injuries.  Spitler hurt his ankle.  Pickle Makowka, who recently adopted a Chimpanzee named Bongo, played well until he twisted his ankle.  Pat 'Big Bird' Christy had another solid game at lock.  Snowball Stone kept the pack running hard all day and the backs played with great cohesion and communication.  Solid game by all. B's win 60 - 5.

Irish eyes are smiling.