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CR4 quarterfinals set up tough semis

Posted in: Division I
By Brian Lowe
Apr 12, 2008 - 4:28:10 PM
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DI_MysticsvBIW_Winter_.jpg
(Kyle Winter photo)
The opening round of the CR4 playoffs has been decided with Mystic River, White Plains, Maryland Exiles, and Long Island all posting wins in Saturday’s quarterfinals.

All four teams will advance to the next round of the playoffs in two weeks’ time.

The Exiles scored the biggest victory of the quarters in pounding Old Blue 60-8. It was all pretty much one-way traffic as the New Yorkers bowed out of the 2008 playoff race.

In a closer contest, Long Island was tested all the way by Media before eventually prevailing 35-23 over their Mid-Atlantic rivals.

Another close encounter saw White Plains hosting Baltimore-Chesapeake and it was the New York side that lived to fight another day by coming out on the right end of a 35-24 scoreline. The visitors took an early 3-0 lead through a penalty goal, but then White Plains took over.

Mike Lee scored the first of five tries for White Plains and they never looked back. Lack of discipline cost the home team a glut of possession, but even so Baltimore-Chesapeake wasn’t able to generate a lot of offense.

Even with very little ball, and without their national 7s team player Troy Hall, the White Plains back-line had a good day at the office. Former North Harbour ‘B’ (New Zealand) player Adam Beets, Mike Kubyk, Gareth Gibbs and Rob Zimba got on the board for White Plains. Bryce Toohey had a 100% success rate with shots at goal.

In the other quarterfinal, Mystic River got the better of their Mid-Atlantic opponents from Schuylkill River winning 38-12.

The Mystics led 18-0 at halftime and went on with the job in the second forty, although they didn’t have things all their own way as Schuylkill River fought back and notched a couple of tries to make a game of it.

Mystic River scored four tries by Dustin MacPherson, Jamie Green, Jake Sprague, and Joe Shurmaitis. Skipper Pat Doherty hit four penalty goals and three conversions.

“They didn’t break, they have a lot of heart,” Mystic River's Doherty told ARN. “The Sweet 16 is pretty much what we’ve had in mind all season, and we don’t want to get ahead of ourselves, but it’s good to know we’ve made it that far.”

The semifinals and final will be played in Philadelphia on the weekend of April 26-27 to determine which teams get what seeds for the national playoffs.

Maryland will face Long Island in one semi, while Mystic River will see White Plains in the other.