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The Glendale Raptors stretched their unbeaten streak to four games as they romped to a 38-19 win over Austin Elite at Infinity Park on Saturday. It was a chilly evening in Colorado though not nearly at the level seen against Toronto. The Texas, however, were simply outmatched by a superior Raptors side that are starting to gain momentum after a slow start to the season.
John Ryberg has been in sparkling form for Glendale and it didn’t take long for the rampaging winger to get into the game. The Elite could only watch as he went through two tacklers as if they weren’t even there to score an early seven pointer. The second try went to Brendan Daly who was met with similarly lackluster resistance.
Austin did have at least one positive in the match. New signing Moe Abdelmonem was outstanding on debut, winning four turnovers in defense and making countless tackles. His first intervention gave the Elite an attacking opportunity and Rodrigo Silva made it count as the Uruguayan finished off a sweeping attacking move.
Robbie Petzer knocked over a penalty to end the half and then Harley Davidson sliced through some more abject defense just after the restart. Glendale were slipping away but Abdelmonem soon played his part on offense, crashing over for after Austin somehow recovered a lineout that was pinched by Casey Rock.
The bonus point was sealed for the Raptors after the hydration break when Chad London went for a casual stroll to the endzone. Chad Gough blasted clean through a tackle to erase any hope of a comeback soon after. Sione Fangaiuiha’s late score was academic as the Elite failed to grab a losing bonus point.
It’s another home game for Glendale next week as they host the San Diego Legion on Saturday. Austin limp back to Texas for their final game at Dell Diamond this season and will need to find something extra to stop the Seattle Seawolves from adding to their misery.
SCORING
GLENDALE 38
Tries – J. Ryberg (8’), B. Daly (17’), H. Davidson (45’), C. London (64’), C. Gough (71’)
Cons – R. Petzer 5/5 (9’, 18’, 46’, 65’, 72’)
Pens – R. Petzer 1/1 (40’)
AUSTIN 19
Tries – R. Silva (21’), M. Abdelmonem (50’), S. Fangaiuiha (78’)
Cons – M. Romera 1/2 (51’), T. Guillimin 1/1 (79’)
TEAMS
GLENDALE RAPTORS
1 Blake Rogers (17 Max Lum 56’), 2 Zach Fenoglio, 3 Kelepi Fifita, 4 Casey Rock (16 Chad Gough 65’), 5 Luke White (capt.) (18 Kody O’Neil 56’), 6 Brendan Daly, 7 Peter Dahl (20 Will Munro HT), 8 Connor Cook, 9 Carlo de Nysschen (21 Mickey Bateman 22’), 10 Ata Malifa, 11 Harley Davidson, 12 Robbie Petzer, 13 Chad London, 14 John Ryberg (23 Nick Johnson 65’), 15 Dylan Taikato-Simpson
No used: 19 Jonny Layne, 22 Mika Kruse
AUSTIN ELITE
1 Chris Schade (17 LaRome White 48’), 2 Tiaan Erasmus (18 Brendan Rams 57’), 3 Juan Echeverría, 4 Ben Mitchell (capt.), 5 Dylan Pieterse (19 Travis Larsen 43’), 6 Rikus Zwart (20 Dom Bailey 57’), 7 Moe Abdelmonem, 8 Kyle Breytenbach, 9 Mickaël Romera (21 Marcelo Torrealba 56’), 10 Rodrigo Silva (22 Timothée Guillimin 56’), 11 Peni Tagive, 12 Andrew Suniula (23 Sione Fangaiuiha 48’), 13 Zinzan Elan-Puttick, 14 Alex Faison-Donahoe, 15 Soheyl Jaoudat
Not used: 16 Peter Malcolm
MATCH OFFICIALS
Referee: Ben Crouse (SARU)
Assistants: Derek Summers (USAR) & Cam Pettit (USAR)
