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The San Diego Legion scored two tries late in the game to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat and earn a 17-13 win over the Houston SaberCats on Saturday evening. Joe Pietersen was the hero once again with a bit of magic creating the game winning score for Nate Augspurger with under two minutes on the clock.
Houston got off to a dream start at Torero Stadium. Josua Vici was back in the lineup and their star winger was nearly in for a try as fans were still finding their seats. Desperate defense pushed him into touch before the ball could be grounded, but the Legion could only hold him out for so long.
Another opportunity came as the clock hit 10 minutes and this time Vici made no mistake. He shot through a hole and stepped the cover defense to grab the first try. Sam Windsor added the extras to make it a seven pointer.
Windsor showed his kicking process again with two penalties on either side of one from Pietersen. The score read Houston 13, San Diego 3 at the break with all the momentum in favor of the SaberCats.
The second half could not have been more opposite to the first. San Diego immediately pushed their way into the Houston half and attacked relentlessly. Wave after wave of Legion attackers crashed into the line but the SaberCats refused to break.
At long last, after spending virtually the entire half in Houston territory San Diego finally found their way through. Keni Nasoqeqe found a half-gap and crashed over for a converted try. The deficit was still three with only five minutes to play.
A critical error from the SaberCats cost them the game. Instead of pinning the Legion back in their own end the tried to grind the clock out with their forwards. It failed, with San Diego winning a turnover and setting the stage for Pietersen’s brilliance.
From an attacking scrum the flyhalf took the ball as a second receiver and curled around the corner to create a two-on-one. Augspurger was the man on his outside and Pietersen’s pass put the Eagles flyer into the corner for a cracking score. The conversion split the uprights and Houston wouldn’t get another chance as the Legion won the restart and held on for the win.
San Diego move clear into second spot and will stay at home next week to play the Utah Warriors. Houston will have a week off for more fine tuning before hosting the Toronto Arrows at Constellation Field on February 22.
SCORING
SAN DIEGO 17
Tries – K. Nasoqeqe (74’), N. Augspurger (78’)
Cons – J. Pietersen 2/2 (75’, 79’)
Pens – J. Pietersen 1/1 (29’)
HOUSTON 13
Tries – J. Vici (10’)
Cons – S. Windsor 1/1 (11’)
Pens – S. Windsor 2/2 (27’, 31’)
TEAMS
SAN DIEGO LEGION
1 Faka’osi Pifeleti (17 Nathan Sylvia HT), 2 Kapeli Pifeleti (16 Dean Muir HT), 3 Paddy Ryan (18 Aaron Mitchell 70’), 4 Louis Stanfill, 5 Keni Nasoqeqe, 6 Chris Turori (19 Sione Tu’ihalamaka 70’), 7 Devin Short (20 Pat Blair 54’), 8 Drew Gaffney, 9 Nick Boyer, 10 Joe Pietersen (capt.), 11 Marcus Tupuola (21 Nate Augspurger HT), 12 JP du Plessis, 13 Jasa Veremalua, 14 Mike Te’o, 15 Conor Kearns (23 Kyle Rogers HT)
Not used: 22 Tai Enosa
HOUSTON SABERCATS
1 Jamie Dever (17 Jake Turnbull 60’), 2 Pat O’Toole, 3 Charlie Connolly, 4 Robert Meeson, 5 Matt Trouville (capt.), 6 Luke Beauchamp, 7 Cecil Garber (20 Chris Coyle 24’), 8 Ayron Schramm (19 Chris Parker 60’), 9 Connor Murphy, 10 Sam Windsor, 11 Josua Vici, 12 Conor Mills, 13 Max Tacket, 14 Malacchi Esdale, 15 Zach Pangelinan
Not used: 16 Amro Gouda, 18 Matt Almeida, 21 Kieran Farmer, 22 Kelly Kolberg, 23 Irving Carcamo
MATCH OFFICIALS
Referee: Pali Deluca (UAR)
Assistants: Scott Green (USAR) & Paul-Henri Courbier (USAR)
