Portland, Maine, May 20, 2006
The young New York Sharks (4-0) were facing a series of test this weekend in New England. It was the first time that many of players were experiencing a road trip and also their first game after the loss of two starters on the team. The Sharks had lost running back Kathy Holloman and linebacker Michelle Brown for the season. It’s a one-two punch that could put many a team on the ropes. To top it all off, they were facing a division foe who were fighting for their playoff life as another loss for the Southern Maine Rebels (0-4) would mathematically eliminate them from the playoff hunt.
It was a very pleasant afternoon in Portland, Maine with temperatures in the upper 60’s. The sun was out but occassionaly there was a threat of brief showers that would come by.
The Sharks won the coin toss for the third time this season, and like they have done all season, Coach Vance elected to kick the ball off to start the game. It started to look like Coach may have made a mistake as the Rebels started off their first drive of the game from their own 33-yard line. Running the Delaware offense, the Rebels pounded the ball up the middle with running back Karen Abendroth doing most of the damage. After 6 plays, the Rebels had moved the ball down to the New York 33-yard line before the Sharks dodged their first bullet. Linebacker Amber Knighten crashed through the Southern Maine line and put her arms on running back Brenna Fenderson just as she was about to take the hand off from quarterback Mariette Harpole. This caused the ball to fall to the ground and Knighten recovered the ball to give the Sharks the ball on their own 41-yard line.
Rookie Yumi Warner was chosen as the running back to try and help fill the large hole left by the injury of Holloman. In honor of the fallen starter, Warner had written Holloman’s number and initials on her arm. It must have worked magic as the first offensive play from scrimmage for the Sharks was a handoff from quarterback Karen Mulligan to Warner. Warner ran up the middle and broke 2 tackles before getting into the secondary and then it was off to the races. With 10 minutes left to play in the first quarter, the Sharks were on the board on a 59 yard run. Kicker Emily Pelletier then came on a kicked the extra point to give New York a 7-0 lead.
Southern Maine was playing for their playoff lives and didn’t let the quick touchdown stop them from playing. Starting off their second drive in good field position from their own 48-yard line, they continued to run the ball like before. They picked up a first down before a penalty stalled the drive on the New York 37-yard line. The Rebels were forced to punt but a good kick by Abendroth pinned the Sharks to their own 13-yard line. New York tried to give the ball to Warner again but this time the Rebels were able to stop her cold. And very quickly the Sharks were forced to punt the ball.
The Rebels started their third drive on the New York 45-yard line. The defensive stop seemed to inspire the offense as Abendroth again pounded away at the Sharks defense. After 9 plays, the Rebels were on the Sharks 6-yard line and a first down. It looked like New York was going to give up their first score of the season as Southern Maine got all the way down to the 1-yard line but New York’s defense came up big when the Rebels went for it on fourth down.
But while the Sharks had dodged another bullet, they were still in trouble starting their drive from their own 1-yard line. The Rebels defense came up big again and forced the Sharks to punt. Knighten was in her own endzone when she caught the snap. The Southern Maine rush was able to put enough pressure on Knighten to force her to run with the ball. Knighten made it to the New York 9-yard lline when Rebels’ Tina Aldrich made a horse collar tackle to give Southern Maine the ball back.
The Sharks were again in hot water, but the defense came up big one more time with their second goal line stance of the game and third of the season. They denied the Rebels from scoring when Sharks Lisa Doran intercepted a Harpole pass in the endzone, but Doran tried to run with the ball and was tackled at the New York 4-yard line.
Again the Sharks were starting back deep in this close ballgame. The Rebels who had not won a game all season were giving the Sharks their toughest game of the year. Except for the long run by Warner, the offense had done very little while the Rebels have kept for ball for over 20 minutes in the first half. Southern Maine was gaining confidence but things quickly turned around in a flash.
Starting from their own 4-yard line, Mulligan pitched the ball to her left and into the hands of Warner. Warner turned the corner and with great blocking by Sharks receiver Junko Tanida ran down the sideline for her second touchdown of the day. The 96-yard touchdown run set a new team record for the longest run in Sharks history. The previous record was 80-yards set by Natalie Jufer in 2000.
Pelletier kicked the extra point at the 4:18 mark of the second quarter and New York was moving ahead despite the Rebels controlling the ball for most of the first half.
That touchdown seemed to mark the end of the Rebels. They had played tough for most of the first half but with a smaller roster than New York, most of their players were seeing double duty and their hard work was taking its toll. On Southern Maine’s next drive they were quickly stopped and they punted the ball back to the Sharks. New York had the ball on their own 37-yard line with less than 2 minutes left in the half. Mulligan again gave the ball to Warner and she was soon running in the Rebels secondary. Another great blocking assignment by Tanida game Warner almost all that she needed for her third touchdown of the game. But it appeared that all of those long runs were taking a toll on Warner too as Aldrich was able to knock her out of bounds at the 1-yard line. From there Mandy Oppel caught the pitch and waltzed into the endzone. Pelletier came in and got the extra point to give the Sharks a comfortabel 21-0 lead with the first half just about to end.
The Rebels had played a very tough first half and were within a yard of tying the game. But in the last 5 minutes of the half, New York was able to basically kick it up a notch and put the game away.
In the second half, the Sharks were on cruise control to win the game by a final score of 55-0. Two items of significance in the second half was that New York kicker Pellitier, whose hometown is in Maine and only 20 minutes down the road, booted a new team record of 7 extra points in a game and receiver Jen Blum came off the injured list to play in her first game of the season and caught a pass for a touchdown. The touchdown reception by Blum now makes her the all-time touchdown and scoring leader in Sharks history with 27 touchdowns and 172 points respectively.
With the victory, New York has basically clinched a tie for the Mid Atlantic division title. The Rebels surprised the Sharks with their tough play in the first half, but New York was able to wear Southern Maine down until the visitors were able to put the points on the board. After the game, offensive game balls were given to Warner, Mulligan, and Pelletier. The defensive game ball was given to Oppel.
The Sharks next game will be in 2 weeks on Saturday, June 3rd at Midwood High School in Brooklyn. They will be playing divisional foe Delaware Griffins. A victory by New York will clinch them their fifth straight IWFL divisional title. Game time is 3:00pm (EDT). And remember it will be Tom Willms’ Day, as the Sharks organization would like to thank our PA announcer for excellent service the past 3 seasons. If you can’t join us at the ballpark, you can still follow all of the action as Pat Brown and Dave Maxwell will describe all of the action on our flagship radio station WFN Radio – the Women’s Football Network.
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Final | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| New York Sharks | 7 | 14 | 14 | 20 | 55 |
| Southern Maine Rebels | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Scoring Summary
First Quarter
NY – (10:00) Warner 59 yard run (Pelletier kick)
Second Quarter
NY – (04:18) Warner 96 yard run (Pelletier kick)
NY – (01:26) Oppel 1 yard run (Pelletier kick)
Third Quarter
NY – (13:44) Oppel 40 yard run (Pelletier kick)
NY – (10:04) Tanida 52 yard pass from Mulligan (Pelletier kick)
Fourth Quarter
NY – (13:39) Robinson 26 yard pass from Mulligan (Pelletier kick)
NY – (09:00) Pagan fumble recovery (kick failed)
NY – (05:12) Blum 40 yard pass from Mulligan (Pelletier kick)