2009 SIPA Championship
Game
By: Wade Moore Sunday November
15th was the date for the 3rd SIPA Gurnsey Cup championship. The 2007 champion
Harrisburg Hitmen came in with a perfect 5-0 record and was looking to win their 2nd title in 3 years. Their opponent would be 4-1 Southern Illinois Tremor. Tremor had just beaten their arch rival and undefeated
defending champion Carbondale Onslaught to make their first Gurnsey Cup final. With
beating Onslaught, they also stopped Onslaughts 11 match win streak over two years. Now
they had the task of stopping another impressive win streak of 8 by the Hitmen. Tremor
had the return of Mike Johnson to bolster their roster although he was coming off of a recent knee surgery. The Hitmen has the same lineup for the 3rd straight season and was being led by the 2009 SIPA MVP, David
Morse. This would be a great match up as both teams are known for their aggressiveness. Tremor did not play aggressive in their playoff win over Onslaught but everyone expected
that to change in the championship.
Both teams came out swinging and the defenses could
not stop the offenses. Caleb Pulke was way more aggressive in the snake than
he had been against Onslaught and he and David met up close several times. But
with Caleb having to work his way into the snake, David could run the snake from his side and was making several cross field
eliminations before he and Caleb would trade out. This left either Dustin Morse
or Carl Brasher still live to score the flag.
With Mike Johnson coming off of knee surgery, he was
not able to play his normal game of moving up aggressively and sliding into bunkers, so he used his sharp shooting abilities
to make eliminations. Mat "Trigger" Cannon made several great moves and showed
us all why he came in 2nd in the MVP voting. In the first half, Jeff French was
unstoppable in the center as he played like he never had before in that position. He
was being so aggressive that it really shook up the Hitmen’s game plan at times. Toward
the end of the first half the Hitmen’s captain used a timeout to try to force across a late score before halftime and
put the pressure on Tremor; and scored they did. They pushed hard and with an
early elimination they were able to take the field and make the score 5-3 at halftime.
The second half started out with the Hitmen stopping
Tremor convincingly on their first offensive possession. Then they scored convincingly
on their first offensive possession to make the score 6-3 in the 3rd quarter. You
could feel the momentum swinging to the Hitmen and this took the wind out of Tremor. The
rest of the 3rd quarter was ruled by the defenses.
Tremor tried to come back in the 4th quarter with a
convincing score of their own to make it 6-4. But then the Hitmen shut the door
on them when they could not stop the Hitmen on their next possession and that would be the final score of 7-4. Tremor would fall just short of their first championship but would have to still feel that this was a successful
season. The Hitmen completed a perfect season at 6-0 and ran their win streak
to 9 with winning their 2nd SIPA Gurnsey Cup Championship in 3 years. To the
victors go the spoils! Congratulations to the Harrisburg Hitmen!
Hitmen knock off Tremor, take 2nd Title!
Hitmen (6 – 0) Tremor (4 – 2)
Won:
7 – 4
Lost: 4 – 7
Offensive Possessions – 9
Offensive possessions – 8
Scores – 7 Scores
– 4
Defensive Chances – 8
Defensive Chances – 9
Defensive Stops – 4
Defensive Stops – 2
Flag Scores: Flag
Scores:
Dustin Morse – 2 Jeff
French – 3
David Morse – 2 Caleb
Pulke – 1
Carl Brasher – 3
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