Black Foxes fend off the Fight at home

The Black Foxes opened the scoring only minutes into the game with a diving try by Andrew Simpson. A rookie this year, Andrew Simpson has made a mark in the Black Foxes -- and demonstrated his skills soon again short of the 10 minute mark with a line break and run halfway across the field for a second try, making the score 10-0 Delaware. Follow on tries from Christian Gwynn at 14 minutes made it 16-0 and then Nathan Campbell at 25 minutes made it 22-0.

The Fight got onto the board 30 minutes in, making a try out of a last tackle kick high into the corner. The corner spot was too hard to convert so this brought the score to 22-4. At 45 minutes the Black Foxes scored in the corner themselves. The conversion attempt bounced off the crossbar, leaving the score at 26-4.

Just one minute later, however, Philadelphia made a successful interception and carried it to within 10 meters of the try line, setting themselves up for a series of attacks on the Black Foxes’ goal. Once again it was a kick on the last, this time a low grubber, that they were able to touch down for a try. Successful conversion by Andrew Kneisly brought the score to 26-10.

Sadly for the Fight, these were to be their last points. A solid Philadelphia drive at 50’ ended with a loose ball being reclaimed by Delaware, and Simpson made another outstanding run to carry it deep into the Fight’s territory. Making a desperate tackle to stop him, Philadelphia gave away a penalty, which Delaware soon turned into a try in the corner. No conversion left the score 30-10.

As the game clock ticked past 1 hour, it seemed as though the Fight were suffering from fatigue a bit more than the Black Foxes. At 65 minutes Delaware’s Nathan Campbell twisted out of tackles and crashed over the try line making it 36-10, and two minutes later Delaware dove into the left corner bringing it to 40-10. Three minutes after that, around the 70 minute mark, they used the right corner instead; 44-10.

With 75 minutes of the game elapsed, Philadelphia had few chances left. They made a desperate drive, with their #1 Mark DiLiberto dancing along the line but not quite being allowed to touch down over it. Awarded a penalty for an illegal strip, the Fight tried again, but were bundled into touch. At 79 minutes they got yet another penalty, but a dangerously wide pass toward the corner resulted in going into touch instead of over the goal line.

Finally in gear and making moves without giving out penalties, Delaware made a clean passing drive up the field and got it down within the closing seconds to make the final score Delaware 50 - Philadelphia 10.