Axemen Secure Home Playoff Game With A Big Win Over Rhinos

Currently at the top of the ladder for the USARL South Division, the Axemen will host the third or fourth seed in Round 1 of the playoffs of August 6th. This is a huge advantage for the team as they continue into the playoffs with the CHOP ZONE (the USARL’s best fans) behind them on their home field.

When the game kicked off last week the win wasn’t so apparent when the Rhinos scored first and were up 6-0 the first 10 minutes. That was the last time Atlanta scored for the rest of the game however, as the Axemen defense took control and got the ball back in their hands. The offensive charge was on and the Axemen scored 4 tries in the first half from Hayden Diggins, Jonathan Halter, David Washington and Ben Nicoll. Diggins was good for 3 of the 4 conversion kicks and the Axemen went into halftime with a 22-6 lead.

Starting the second half the Axemen got right back to work with a big run and try scored from Jonathan Halter. Not letting up, the Axemen scored 2 more tries from David Thomas and David Washington, Diggins was good for 2 of the 3 conversion kicks and the score was 38-6. Finally the Axemen scored more than 32 points which they have scored in the three previous games.

Will Mueller scored the next try and kicked for the conversion himself, followed by a try from Urban Iyo and a no good conversion from Jonathan Halter making the final score 48-6.

Coach Ben Nicoll is happy with how the team is coming together. “This week’s game was probably our best game so far as a team effort. We scored some really good team tries and our shape is really starting to come together. We still have a lot of improving to do; we gave away too many silly penalties and dropped the ball way too much, but I have to take my hat off to the lads once again. Atlanta had the ball a lot and our defense stayed strong in the really tough weather conditions. Everybody was off their feet but our team’s fitness proved to be the difference.”

The Axemen are preparing to travel to Tampa this weekend to take on the Mayhem, 3pm at Tampa Catholic High School.