Morton tops New Trier 31-10
By Dave Surico
Black and bruise.
Black was the color of Morton's jerseys and bruising was the style of rugby they played in a 31-10 win over New Trier in the first round of the iYRA Tier 1 playoffs Saturday in Cicero.
The top-seeded West Division club started out with a bang on an intercepted New Trier pass. Manny Aranda grabbed the ball in stride and rambled 35 meters for the opening score in the second minute. The senior connected on the conversion for a quick 7-0 lead.
Soon afterwards Jose Salazar broke off a 50-meter score to give Morton a 12-0 lead.
New Trier got on the board on a penalty, but Aranda responded with another try, this time from eight meters out. He hit the conversion for a 19-3 lead at the break.
The scoring was completed by Morton's Mike Waszkowski's two second-half tries sandwiched around a Sam Coffey try for New Trier.
Cicero (4-1-1 in iYRA) played according to plan, which was to counter New Trier's attack.
"They have a very unique style of play. Instead of pursuing they form a new back line and try to out number us on the edge," said Arana, a senior who will continue his rugby career at Northern Illinois. "We practiced all week against it and it worked out for us."
Morton coach Aaron Sweeney led his team to it's second straight semifinal berth.
"We like to play a physical game. I'm definitely pleased with the outcome," he said. "We're fortunate to come out with a victory against a good team."
Besides his scoring, Waszkowski impacted the game with strong overall play and numerous steals of New Trier throw ins.
"We played them like they were the best team ever," said the senior, who will play at Illinois next school year. "Execute and the game handles itself. I think we played consistently the entire game. We were coming up fast and hitting hard. That really can mess with a team mentally."
New Trier made its first appearance in the Tier 1 playoffs.
"They took it to us," said coach Malcolm Hurcombe. "I expected us to be in a real physical game today. We let ourselves down early. We made a couple of silly mental errors which gave them an opening. Before we knew where we were we were down two scores.
"We were beaten by a better side on the day. They wanted it and they took it and they did very well. You tip your hat and move on."
Sophomore Coffey hopes to get another chance to play in the playoffs.
"Sometimes we don't start off too good," he said. "I'd like to come back again to prove this isn't as good as we can play."
Morton will host Naperville in the semifinals. They beat their West Division foes 10-0 earlier in the season. But foremost in the Mustangs minds will be their semifinal loss to Naperville in 2009.
"You can't make up what happened last year, but it's in the back of kids' heads," said Sweeney.
