NY KNIGHTS 2009 AMNRL CHAMPIONS!

Gallant Knights Overcome Resilient Wildcats


The New York Knights headed to Norwalk looking for their first ever victory against the Connecticut Wildcats. Since their inception in 2003, the Wildcats had defeated the Knights at every meeting, including a big win in the 2008 playoffs, the last time the teams faced-off. As 2009 champions the Knights saw this as an opportunity to end the streak. Captain Gareth Baxendale said before the match, "This is our opportunity to bring it back to New York...it's about pride."

With both teams were coming off losses to the New Haven Warriors (plus a bye for Connecticut) they appeared eager to return to the winners circle, with tough hits and hard talk from the opening kickoff.

In first possession after kickoff, however, Baxendale could not have been pleased. Curtis Cunz of the Wildcats came out firing and an early 60 meter/yard bust by led to a try. Unfortunately, in the same play, Cunz was injured and he remained on the sideline for the remainder of the match.

From there, the Knights turned things around and soon gained ascendancy through tries to Baxendale, then Knights prospect and Bronx native Rob 'Beaner' Cabrera. Despite the hot and humid conditions (temperatures were around 90F), both teams went into tackles hard, with relatively few substitutions.

Shortly after quarter-time, an individual effort by Todd Fisher continued the Knights domination, but the lead seemed to relax the Knights and following a series of errors by them the Wildcats crawled back into the game and the score at halftime was 18-10. Another try through the right side immediately after the break brought the score to 18-16, but again Fisher found an opening and scored his second try extending the lead back to six points.

A sensational break from Xavier Lozinguez put the Knights further ahead, but it wasn't enough as the Wildcats returned fire again. In the last quarter, Ryan Armbrust finally put the game behind doubt with a break from 50 out and scored under the posts.

Final score was 34-20, for the first Knight's win versus their rivals to the North. However, Cieutat's squad did not see the victory as reason to celebrate. 'Our defense was strong, but we gave our opposition too many opportunities through poor handling meaning we had to work harder than necessary to secure the victory' said Cieutat.

Knights players' MVP Andrew Le Breton continually troubled the Wildcats opposition and was punishing in defense. Other stars for the Knights were Todd Fisher with a personal tally of 18 points and Etienne Valette in his A team debut for the Knights.

In other AMNRL Round 3 scores - The Aston Bulls slaughtered the Fairfax Eagles 96-22, the New Haven Warriors made light work of the Northern Raiders 76-5, the Philadephia Fight overcome the DC Slayers 40-26 and the Boston 13s defeated newcomers the Pittsburgh Vipers 48-16. The Knights have the bye next week and will relish it given the physical encounters of the past two weeks.

Scorers for Knights : Tries: Todd Fisher (2), Rob Cabrera. Ryan Armbrest, Xavier Lozinguez, Gareth Baxendale Goals : Todd Fisher 5 from 6