Eastside Overcomes NorCal Visitors Marin
Eastside Overcomes NorCal Visitors Marin
Eastside Lions in Washington state beat touring Marin Highlanders of Northern California 26-14 in a really entertaining match.
This game had a bit of everything.
Eastside fullback Parker Jackson nearly opened the scoring within minutes, bursting onto the ball and carving through the Highlanders' defense down the left flank. But the final pass didn’t stick, letting Marin off the hook.
The Lions soon converted their early pressure into points. After hammering away at the Highlanders' defense with powerful forward carries, Eastside earned a penalty and scrumhalf Jerry Fleming sniped over.
Eastside doubled their lead just four minutes later with a well-drilled set-piece play. A quick throw to the front of the lineout saw prop Peleki Vuatalevu charge draw multiple defenders. His offload to Save Lotawa set up a rapid recycle, and flyhalf Kellen Eskridge exploited a half-gap. No.8 Lewis Chambers then carried hard, absorbing two tacklers before offloading to flanker Seth Abood for the score.
Marin struggled to gain territory, and Eastside capitalized once more. Vuatalevu was again difficult to stop and barreled through two tacklers to crash over for a well-earned try. The successful conversion pushed the lead to 19-0.
The first half ended on a sour note for Eastside, however, as captain Lewis Chambers limped off with an ankle injury.
In the second half the Highlanders returned to the field with renewed energy. With Eastside’s Jackson off with a yellow card, and then Tristan Lolohea off with a red card,
Up by two players Marin stole a pass and quickly moved it wide to wing Bear Lyon, who outpaced everyone to score under the posts.
The Highlanders pressed forward, and their efforts were rewarded when a scrum deep in Eastside territory. Hooker Kevin Peterson had moved to No. 8 and he picked up and powered over. That made it 19-14.
The final minutes were chaotic, with both sides coughing up possession through knock-ons, penalties, and misdirected passes. With Marin pushing for a potential match-winning score, Eastside dug deep and forced a penalty five meters from the Highlanders' line. Hooker Aseri Kauwea took full advantage, driving through defenders to seal the game with a decisive try. The successful conversion stretched the final score to 26-14.
This as a good opener for Eastside but they will need to fix some of their discipline and it’s still not clear when their captain, Chambers, will return.
For Marin, they showed resilience and perhaps with a more precise first half things could have been different.
This has become a nice little rivalry. The teams have played each other three times in recent years, with Eastside now inching ahead 2-1 in the series. It's expected to continue.
