Atlanta vs North Carolina 7/23/2011

Atlanta Kookaburras kick another record score, this time against the North Carolina Tigers.

Atlanta travelled to Raleigh NC to do battle again with the Tigers of North Carolina. These two teams have played many times over the years, most recently in Atlanta in June, where the Kookas scraped out a 2 point win in the oppressive heat. Saturday's game was similar in only one respect; the oppressive heat. With the game moved forward by 3 hours to try to escape the projected 102 degree temperature, the Kookas steamrolled their opponent to the tune of a club record goals scored (30) and highest winning margin (170).

The game started well for North Carolina, banging in two goals in the opening minutes, but once Atlanta uncorked their running game, it was all over bar the shouting. 8 straight goals to finish off the first quarter and then another 6 in the second gave the Kookas a sizable 11 goal lead and the day was only getting hotter. 8 of those 14 goals were put through by Atlanta's two leading goal kickers - Chris Moerman and Simon Davis. These two players have teamed extremely well so far this season, kicking more than half of the team's goals.

With Dave Evans and Russ Barner dominating the rucking contests, the forwards were provided with plenty of opportunities to score and the roving department was doing plenty of the providing. Daniel Searle, Mike Gross and Josh Trombley were running all over the ground, collecting loose balls and driving the team forward. Trombley, a first year player, continues to impress the coaches with his abilities. The backline of Olsheski, Crist and Kraska had little to do, with the ball camped in the Kookas forward line and when it did come their way, they easily handled the NC forwards.

Brent Kewley was his tenacious self and managed to get forward to kick a rare goal. Adam Ellison showed his smooth skills to feed Moerman with some accurate passes and even chipped in with 2 goals himself. Jeremiah Cain was strong is his role as ruck-rover. Joey Costyn and Eric Baker were dominant across the half back line and were part of the reason that North Carolina did not score a goal after the first quarter.

With the day getting hotter, it was decided to shorten the second half to 2 x 15 minute quarters, but that didn't stop the Atlanta machine. They scored more goals in the second half than they did in the first, banging in another 16 goals to easily beat their previous highest score. Of the two most memorable goals in this half, one was kicked by Mike Gross after running 3/4 of the length of the field to get open for a Moerman pass. Moerman said later that he felt compelled to kick to Gross seeing that he'd run all that way. This was Gross' first goal for the kookas and probably won't be his last.

The other goal was a fine right-footed rolling goal from left-footed Daniel Searle, kicked on the run from center half forward. This was Searle's fifth goal of the day and capped off a strong performance from the Kookas rover.

To be fair, North Carolina were not the same team that travelled to Atlanta in June. They were missing some important players and I'm sure they'll rebound from this performance to be stronger by Nationals in October. 

Of note in the first quarter was Mick Frost kicking the club's 1000th goal from all competitions. The club has been in existence since 1998 and this was a memorable moment for the team and all past players, including coach and club-leading goal kicker Wayne Kraska. Kraska kicked one goal on Saturday to add to his tally of 126 goals.

A great night was had by the Kookas, celebrating their record beating performance - Woody's and Hooters will never be the same again.

Scores for the game were:

Goal Kickers for Atlanta:

Moerman 9, Davis 8, Searle 5, Ellison 2, Gross 2, Batten 1, M.Frost 1, Kraska 1, Kewley 1