Thanks to Greg Stern for the excellent summary.

April 1, Minneapolis, MN

28 METROPOLIS SECOND XV
18 UW STOUT

Hamline University, St. Paul The first day of sun in nearly a week shone upon the fantastic Hamline football facility, to treat a thriving crowd of dozens to a spirited match of the young-in-years vs. the young-at-heart, with the Metropolis B-side defeating Midwest Collegiate Final Four qualifier UW-Stout 28-18.

Stout did indeed look intimidating, displaying size, speed, skill, and few scary looking lads who looked like they just lost a battle with a pair of hedge clippers. Stout controlled the ball well in phase play, particularly off the lineout, where they punched through the gainline using a hefty yet mobile prop outside the flyhalf. When they gained enough momentum, they spun the ball to a creative backline that made up much ground. Metropolis countered with some fierce tackling, led by Chad Augeson and Curt McEwen in the centers, and Mark Dalton in the pack.

Stout controlled enough ball to get their backline running forward, and tallied two early tries to get out to a 10-0 lead. While Metropolis was able to control the set pieces, and perhaps make some ground wth a strong first phase, lack of depth prevented any sustained attack. Strong tackling by Stout gave no ground on the fringes of the ruck. Flyhalf Peter Wildenberg kept the field position battle honest with tactical kicking, but the Stout fullback boasted a stronger leg in return, in addition to some agressive counterattacking. Metropolis eventually did get on the board towards the end of the half with excellent support running by the centers, with Augeson passing out of the tackle to a streaking McEwen, who finished the final 20 meters untouched. The conversion put the score at 13-7 to Stout at the half.

The second half started off much like the first, with Stout controlling phase play. As both sides went into substitution mode, the tides began to turn. The first substitution, Prop Kyle Kemmet, announced his presence with a 20 meter ramble off the kickoff. Over time, the 3rd row and backline ended up looking like select sides from past eras. Pete Dumont put an end to the multi-phase dominance of Stout, by contesting and poaching the ball in the tackle. Speed and experience was added to the back three with Russ Spaulding, Andy Coppernoll and the ever-spry Dougie Byrnes, who played the field like a 3rd flanker. With Greg Stern adding fresh legs at flyhalf, Metropolis was ready to run.

Unfortunately, it takes the long-in-the-tooth a little longer to warm up. Stout greeted the new lineup by pressuring a Metropolis scrum at their own 22-meters to get the line backpedaling, and pressured the ensuing passes straight backwards, eventually collecting a loose ball at 5 meters and pummelling over for an 18-7 lead. Eventually, the Old Boy moxie finally kicked in. With the strong Stout tackling in the centers preventing any major breaks, the ball was spun wide to the wing, often from Dumont-created turnover ball, with Coppernoll starting long breaks and the rest of the backline in support. A Coppernoll break down the wing was pursued by Augeson and Byrnes, who linked back towards the middle of the field where Kemmet crashed through the final tackle for a try. The Stern conversion made the score 18-14. Soon thereafter, another Dumont poach started a counter attack, with Stern linking with a loose forward who broke through multiple tackles to about 10 meters. The recycle came quickly to the other side, with Spaulding this time dotting down in the right corner. Metropolis continued to control the momentum. The finishing touch came off a first phase play off a scrum from about 30 meters out. An Augeson skip pass to Spaulding started a fantastic, linking play that passed through about 10 pairs of hands before finding its way back to McEwen, who finished the play for his second try.

Kudos to the boys from Stout, whose starting XV were clearly the class of the pitch on this day. While some of the elders enjoyed their moment in the sun, there was no mistaking them for the boys who spend all week in practice, thanks to the brand new skin-tight jerseys. Many a spare tire and man-boob was spotted, with nowhere to hide. Wags had to edit the photos just so he could get them developed without getting arrested for indecent exposure. (Exposure! Get it? Ha! I slay me!)

METROPOLIS 'B' 28 UW-STOUT 18

Tries: McEwen (2), Kemmet, Spaulding
Conversions: Wildenberg, Stern (3)