Club News  » Game Summaries

It was a hot, muggy day in New York City. The smog hovered over the city like an electronic force field hovering over the Federal Reservatory. The Breakers eventually found their way onto Randall’s Island, probably the least accessible pitch on the Eastern Seaboard. With no Job Johnny on site coupled with a thin side, the Breakers had to make due with what they had.

The Lions came out aggressive and maintained this tempo throughout the game. The Breakers fell behind 12-0 early in the match. Joe Shurmitis ended the drought with a long scamper of his own, shedding tackles while leaving a mist of dust behind. But the Lions continued their scoring frenzy.

In the second half the Breakers punched in two more tries. Matt Crouse smelled the try line and scored with a powerful crash. Later in the half Mark DiLiberto scored in support of another Breaker before exiting the game due to injury. Still, the Breakers’ efforts weren’t enough to upend a Lions’ outfit that had enough players for three sides. The Lions played better in virtually all facets of the game. In all though, the Breakers never stopped playing despite the score. At the very least, this could be summed up as valuable experience against a quality team.

Final tally:
Village Lions: 63
Breakers: 17

The Breakers were primed and ready for another grudge match against Lehigh Valley. Just months ago, the Breakers suffered a 30-15 set back to their division foe; a team that mirrors Wilkes-Barre in regards to their high level of talent but relatively small numbers. Nevertheless, the Breakers showed up in herds. They were easily able to fill two sides and even supplied Lehigh Valley’s B-Side with some of our old boys.

In regards to the game, the Breakers came out in typical fashion. They played hard-nosed rugby from the first sound of the whistle to the last. Wilkes-Barre seemed to control possession of the ball for the better part of the game and they also seemed to be in Lehigh's territory much of the time. However, there seemed to be no continuity on either side of the ball. Both teams committed enough penalties to last two Saturday’s. There were many knock ons and an excessive amount of penalties within the rucks. Lehigh found themselves playing defense more than they'd prefer to. All of their pushes were thwarted by either penalties, or an aggressive Wilkes-Barre defense. Billy “the Bull” Bleyler had the teams only try. Tony “T-Money” Van Scoy made good on the conversion.

Final tally:
Breakers 7
Lehigh 5

It was a beautiful sunny day in the 50’s. Whitehorse’s pitch had a hard playing surface, which is something that tends to help a speedy team like ourselves. Indeed, it was our most physical match of the season. The first half was similar to a dog fight...back and forth. Halftime score-12-10 Breakers.

Wilkes-Barre opened the second half with a score and never looked back. The Breakers rode the coat-tails of Mike “Twinkle Toes” Homewood in route to a hard fought victory over Whitehorse. Tries were scored by Mike Homewood, Tim Pearage, Mark T. Barry, and Matt Krause. Breakers committed a paltry number of penalties. Our forwards did an excellent job at crashing, tackling, lineouts and winning balls. Conversely, the backline was able to move the ball at will. Overall, it was a great team performance. Congrats and Cheers!

Final tally:
Breakers 29
Whitehorse 10

Breakers pitch a shutout against Jersey Shore. Jersey came into the match as the 2nd highest scoring team in the union and had 3 wins to that point. Breakers welcomed the challenge and walked away with a big win. Tries were scored by “Big Mike” or as many refer to him, “Twinkle Toes” Homewood. His leap over a defender was suredly a sight to be seen. “I’ve never seen a man of his stature move with so much grace.” commented a “rugger” from Jersey Shore. Other tries were scored by the new inductee into the backline Tony VanScoy, Chuck Crusan, Tim Pearage and myself. 4 of 5 conversions were made. Breakers stand at 2-4 but look to finish 4-4 and finish 4th in a division comprised of nine teams. Current try leaders are as follows:

Tim Pearage-3
Matt DiLiberto-2
Mark DiLiberto-2
Tony VanScoy-2

Final tally:
Breakers 33
Jersey Shore 0

Breakers are to play Whitehorse this Sat. near Philly. Until next time...Cheers!!

Breakers get off snide and upend PCOM 24-19. Wilkes-Barre came into the game with an 0-3 record. However, they undoubtedly had the hardest strength of schedule in the union up to that point. Conversely, PCOM came marching in with a 2-1 record.

The game began with the Breakers playing as though they had something to prove. Early in the first half Mark DiLiberto picked off a PCOM pass and scampered sixty meters to the PCOM five meter line before he was tackled, but he quickly released the ball and picked it up again. The 2nd year player was able to feed it back to Tim Pearage who was in support. Timmy then found some daylight, got skinny, and found the try zone. From that point on, the Breakers never looked back. They did an exceptional job at playing Breakers’ brand of rugby in addition to taking advantage of loose play opportunities. David Battisti and Mark DiLiberto added subsequent tries of their own near the end of the first half. Battisti (aka Batman), found himself in the right place at the right time and flew toward the try line while weaving through PCOM defenders. Soon after, Mark DiLiberto made a few moves to maneuver past two PCOM’ers to find the try zone. Matt DiLiberto secured the victory for the Breakers with his second half try as he elegantly trotted into the try zone. In all it was a good day for the red and black. The pack controlled the scrums and lineouts, and the backs came into their own. Chuck Crusan made 2 of his 4 conversions. Breakers look to improve their record this Sat. the 21st in a game against North Penn.

Final tally:
Breakers 24
PCOM 19

As the all too familiar gold and black arrived at Kirby Park, the Breakers knew they were in for a game. Unfortunately, the contest seemed mostly one sided.

The game started with the Griffins fumbling several opportunities to score. Early on they had a bad case of the drops. In essence, this could’ve been attributed to the Breakers’ defense which forced Gaelic to make several ill-advised passes. Regardless, Wilkes-Barre had few bright spots all day. Gaelic scored roughly twenty minutes into the match and then continued to ride the wave of momentum. At the half, the Breakers were down by several tries.

The Breakers flirted with the try line late in the second half but their efforts were not rewarded. After a disappointing first half, the Breakers’ defense stiffened and gave up two scores in the second half. For the most part though, the Breakers had an emotional letdown. Their play this particular Saturday certainly wasn’t indicative of their team’s caliber. Instead, it was a matter of the team as a whole not showing up to play.

Final tally:
Gaelic 50
Breakers 0

The Breakers began the game with much intensity. Their “bend don’t break” defense prevented 2nd City from punching the ball in several times during the first half. Although, we had a plethora of penalties, we did not succumb to 2nd City’s attempts to press the action. That said, 2nd City did manage to score first. But the Breakers responded with 12 unanswered points. The wily veteran Tim Pearage (Scrum Half) scored as well as the nimble Matt DiLiberto (Winger). In fact, this was Matt’s first try, and hence he was obliged to do the traditional Zulu Warrior after the game. Breakers up 12-5 at the half.

During the second half the Breakers found themselves playing defense the majority of time. 2nd City stretched our defense and was more aggressive in regards to their playcalling. Fitness coupled with some inexperience among the backs may have been an issue.

Final Score...
2nd City 31
Breakers 12

On the positve side, W-B has has gained valuable experience against a quality opponent. As always, our physicality was second to none.