Quad Rugby/Story - Tampa Mini-Tournament

UNITED STATES QUAD RUGBY ASSOCIATION

January, 2002

A RIVALRY FINALLY HEATS UP
by Dave Gould

The difference between what constitutes and does not constitute a rivalry between two teams is simple. When the competition is intense, close, and when the winner varies from game to game, a rivalry is born. On the other hand, dominance occurs when one team decidedly and without exception owns the upper hand. In the case of the Tampa Generals, they have dominated the Suncoast Lightning (formerly the Sarasota Riptide) over both teams' history--
until this season.

Going into the 2001-02 campaign, Suncoast appeared to finally have the upper hand. They had dominated every game played between both clubs. And then came Tampa's mini-tournament January 26th in St. Petersburg, Florida. What happened was all the elements of a healthy rivalry came together. Tough, intense, hard-fought rugby with both teams going goal for goal with the other team.

The Generals came out with a lot of intensity to start the game and were able to force some turnovers on the Lightning to take an early lead. They gave a few back, but seemed to be in control of the game and managed to lead 11-10 after eight minutes.

The second quarter was much like the last 4-minutes of the first as neither team could really pull away from the other,
but Tampa was still able to dictate the flow of the game. The quarter ended with the Generals still maintaining a one goal lead 20-19. Both teams decided to take the third quarter off as they managed only 3 goals a piece, the Generals still clinging to their 1 goal lead 23-22 with 8 minutes left in the contest.

The close battle continued in the 4th quarter, but after a Brian Sterner goal three minutes in put the Generals up 26-24 the Lightning ripped off 3 goals in a row to take the lead 27-26. "At this point it was obvious that the momentum had shifted to the other side, but I felt the guys were still playing hard and the ship was righted, " Gould said. "But now we were playing from behind and needed to force a turnover or two."

It was the Generals however who turned the ball over late and the Lightning comeback was complete as they posted a 35-33 victory. David Jenkins let Suncoast with 18 goals and Pat O'Connor added 9 goals. Tampa scoring was lead by 9-year veteran Mark Hickey, who also tallied 18 goals including a run of 10 straight for the Generals. Brian Sterner also contributed 10 goals for Tampa.

"Over all I felt we played a pretty solid game," Gould said. "We need to cut down on our mistakes especially late in games, as fatigue starts to slow the body the mind must stay alert. I try to tell the guys to maintain a high level of concentration so they don't make tired mistakes."

"We have played Suncoast a lot this year at tournaments and practice scrimmages so there aren't many secrets between us, they know what we are going to do and we know what they are going to do. The rivalry is just starting to heat up as a number of games remain on the schedule. I do see improvement as the year is progressing, but we must get a lot better
especially as the post season is fast approaching."

As for that budding rivalry, Lightning coach Ed Hopper said, "We really have just begun a rivalry with Tampa. Before, they just kicked our butts on their way to bigger games. Last year we played a couple of close games, but really they were still better than us. This year I see things heating up. "Tampa now knows they can play with us and beat us. It's our job to see
that that doesn't happen. We'll play them at least 3 more times this season and we expect each game to be a dog fight."

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