By Johnny Woo
FAIRFAX, Va – With eleven minutes left and trailing by two, Jason Robertson stepped to the tee, split the posts, and gave Old Glory DC a one-point lead it would not surrender. The final whistle
came shortly after, sealing a 24-23 thriller against the New England Free Jacks at George Mason Stadium that pushed DC into fourth place in the MLR standings.
With both clubs entering the match at 2-4, the playoff implications were impossible to ignore. Old Glory, fresh off a narrow loss to Seattle the week prior, needed a result. So did New England, looking to get revenge on DC and jump them in the standings.
DC struck first. Ross Depperschmidt scored off a Perry Humphreys offload just four minutes in, but New England answered immediately as Oscar Lennon broke through the middle untouched to level it at 7-7.
For the next eighteen minutes, Old Glory had their backs to the wall. The Free Jacks controlled possession, camping inside DC’s 22 for long stretches before Ben LeSage broke through, dribbling the length of the field through defenders to touch down another try.
Old Glory’s forward pack clawed one back. A lineout near the five-meter line turned into a sustained maul that drew a yellow card on Rueben Palmer, awarding DC a penalty try to tie it at 14-14. But Hodgson had the final word of the half, adding a penalty goal to send New England into the break with a 17-14 edge.
The second half came down to the two number 10s.
Hodgson extended New England’s lead to 20-14 with a chip-shot penalty kick in the 49th minute. Then Robertson found a different gear. With DC struggling to break through New England’s defensive front, Robertson pump-faked an offload and floated a cross-field kick perfectly into Humphrey’s arms on the edge. With one man to beat, Humphreys fed Damien Hoyland to cross with ease. Robertson capped the sequence off with a conversion to give Old Glory a 21-20 lead.
New England responded. Another Hodgson penalty kick reclaimed the lead at 23-21, and when Robertson’s go-ahead attempt struck the left upright and out, the Free Jacks had possession back and the momentum seemed to swing back to their side.
But New England still had to clear their own territory. A mishandled pitch from Hodgson inside their own five-meter line gifted DC a scrum, along with great field position. Robertson earned another look at the posts – and this time he didn’t miss. Right down the middle, 24-23, with eleven minutes left.
Old Glory’s defense closed the door from there, turning away a late New England push inside the 22 to seal the win.
Robertson earned Player of the Match honors after directing the second-half attack.
“We really needed a win there,” he said. “The Free Jacks were really good in the first half – I don’t think we quite nailed our opportunities… the kicking game really took over and I think
that’s what got us over the line in the end.”
Head coach Simon Cross credited a group that refused to crack under pressure.
“These boys like defending,” Cross said. “That’s what we’re built on. Set piece and defense. And if we can get the cherry on top with our attack, that’s the Old Glory way. We just stayed in it. We
talked about pounding the rock. We just kept pounding it.”
With Anthem RC falling to Seattle on the same afternoon, Old Glory moves into fourth place with three matches remaining. Next up: California Legion on the road.