2010 Game Reports
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2009 Game Reports
June 6 vs Boston 13's in Boston
Another perfect day greeted the Axemen in New England as they took on the Boston 13's for their inaugural game. Their venue has the latest generation turf field that made for a "fast track" on the day.
Although the Boston team came out with plenty of passion and their adrenaline running high, it was the Axemen that had the better of the scoreboard with Simon Moate opening their account and Brent Shorten adding the extras. The Boston team pressured the Axemen line many times during the half but the Jacksonville defense was very tight and denied the home team every time. The Axemen did suffer injuries to Sean Rutgerson (Knee) early in the half that ended his day after he was having a great game with easy meters being made and crunching tackles and Apple Pope who suffered a head clash that sent him to the sideline for treatment. The scoring however did not stop with Brent Shorten, Nick Shea, Randy Dewey, Matt Clark also crossing in the half and Justin Sphaler added two to his tally for the day. Brent Shorten added two more conversions to have the Axemen up 34 to 0 at the break.
The second 40 minutes was not as convincing for the Axemen team as they suffered with an injury to Brent Shorten in a head clash that split him open and Apple Pope was still struggling with the "wobbles". Spinner Howland also saw a short time on the sidelines with a cramping issue in his calf. With all the changes in positions due to three of the Axemen play-makers the defense faltered for enough time for the Boston side to get over the line 3 times. The Axemen reacted with game plan alterations going back to basics that had the desired effect and closed up the defensive gaps and allowed them to reply with 3 trys of their own thanks to Simon Moate with two and Kenny Britt with a single to close out the day with a score of 46 to 16.
Try Scorers
Simon Moate - 3
Justin Sphaler - 2
Kenny Britt - 1
Randy Dewey - 1
Matt Clark - 1
Nick Shea - 1
Brent Shorten - 1
Goals - Brent Shorten - 3
May 30 vs DC Slayers in Washington DC
The Axemen traveled to the Nations Capital to face off against the DC Slayers in what ended up being almost perfect conditions. Rain had fallen in DC much like it had in Jacksonville over the recent weeks but game-day saw sunshine and temps in the upper 70's. The Slayers home field is Walenberg Park which is across the street from the National Holocaust Museum and drew a good crowd for the 1pm kick off with the Washington Monument providing the background.
The Axemen got on the board very quickly with Apple Pope driving in from dummy half and Brent Shorten adding the extras but the Slayers showed they had come to deny the visitors an opening round win by putting in two trys of the own to take the lead. The Axemen also gave up three silly penalties on the Slayers fifth tackle on three occasions that gave a new set of plays to the Washington side and this added to the pressure the Axemen had to face. The remaining part of the second half seen a battle for scoring opportunities that ended with the half time scores having the Axemen up 18 to 14.
The second half was a different story with the Axemen finding reward from the extra fitness sessions that have been added to the training schedule and they began to find some larger gains in offense. Although both teams gave away possession on occasion the Axemen found their feet more often than not and where able to mount pressure to the end of the game coming out with a 44 to 24 win.
Axemen Scorers
Apple Pope - 1 Try
Spinner Howland - 2 Trys
Simon Moate - 4 Trys
Brent Shorten - 7 conversions plus one penalty goal