Axemen Game Report: Round 5

The Firehouse Subs Jacksonville Axemen settled the score in Round 5 of the USARL competition with a win against the Philadelphia Fight. Jacksonville started off strong with two tries scored by Kenny Britt and Brent Shorten and ended the first quarter with the Fight behind 8-0.  As Philadelphia tried to recover in the second quarter the Axemen struggled with two knock-ons and Akarika Dawn was sent off with a yellow card. The Fight scored twice and they were up 12-8 until Brent Shorten scored again late in the half to lead 14-12. After regrouping during half time the Axemen came out strong with two more tries by Kenny Britt and Brenden Beedle. With the Axemen up 20-12 in the third quarter tensions skyrocketed and a fight broke out between Matt Clark and Akarika Dawn. Consequentially Clark was given a red card and another yellow card was given to Dawn, and both teams were down to 12 players for the remainder of the game. The Axemen wouldn’t let up with Josh Cock scoring the team’s sixth try followed up by Gaz Walker scoring another try under the posts. Both conversions from were good by Richie Alleger and the score was up to 38-12 at the end of the third quarter. Philadelphia fought hard to catch up in the fourth quarter, and scored three tries to bring the game closer at 38-26. Coach and Captain Brent Shorten rallied the Axemen to hold a strong defense with less than 10 minutes of game time left and they were able to keep the Fight from scoring again; the game ended with a final score of 38-26. “It was a tough battle,” says Shorten. “It could have gone either way at a stage there but we worked hard and the crowd lifted us. We look forward to a week off and then back into it.” The Axemen have a bye week and will play the DC Slayers at home on July 13. For more info and full schedule go to www.jaxaxe.com.