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They faltered.
And last weekend, we might have seen a key sign of life. Yes Metropolis
selected down for the final game of the weekend, but the Griffins
desperately needed a win. They led 15-12 at halftime, but after a late
penalty were 23-20 down with little time left. The Griffins secured the
restart, however, and worked their way downfield to score the winning
try.
Head Coach Wez Parkes, for his part, breathed a sigh of relief.
“I think the guys really wanted to make it happen,” said Parkes. “Over the
fall some of the guys have really grown. They’ve grown into their roles on
the team, and in this game I felt we really started to play our
game.”
The fall has been humbling, but Parkes says he thinks that, ultimately,
will be good for the team. Now the Griffins visit a very tough Cincinnati
Wolfhounds squad, a team they lost to by a single point 31-30 on October
20. The Midwest quarterfinal is the last weekend of games in the region,
and winners move on to the national playoffs, while the losers are
done.
Neither is interested in being done. It would certainly be a mistake to
look at the October 20 result, or the relatively records of the two teams
(3-4-1 for Chicago, 7-1 for Cincinnati) and conclude the Wolfhounds are
favored. This is a different Griffins team than the one we saw playing in
September. Whether it’s different enough is the question.
The other question is whether Eagle callups Andrew Suniula and Graham
Harriman will play. The team officially assembles on Sunday, so that seems
a little up in the air. If you ask USA Head Coach Mike Tolkin, he’d
probably want those two to stand down. But this is win or go home time.