Report:

On a beautiful day for footy in Atlanta, the Roswell Rebels took on the Midtown Bombers in the first of two games on the opening day of the 2006 AARFL season. These two teams have faced off against each other in two of the three Atlanta League Grand Finals, with the Rebels taking the flag in the League's inaugural season, and the Bombers winning the last two. With many new faces in the league this season, and some players switching teams, will these two teams remain the class of the competition -- or will the other two teams make a run at the league's championship this year?

As the teams took the field with at least two new players that had never played the game before on each side, play was a bit tentative to begin with. It was back and forth in the opening quarter, as Roswell's Mike Frost and Midtown's newcomer Darren Fagen each kicked two goals for their teams. The quarter ended with only two points in it, Midtown 3.3.21, leading Roswell 3.1.19. The Rebels had a little trouble finding the goal in the second term, as the Bombers had more scoring opportunities, but were also inaccurate with their kicking. Greg Frost put one through the big sticks, but sprayed three wide for behinds. They still managed to stretch their lead out a bit, 5.6.36 to 4.3.27.

Roswell came out firing in the third quarter, taking control of the midfield, and the game, through goals to Johnny O'Sullivan, Hugo Sach, Jason Pearce, and Frost. First-gamer Joey Gilkey was doing an impressive job in the backline, keeping the Midtown forwards from getting the ball, as the Rebels only surrendered one goal for the term. At the end of the quarter, Roswell had turned it around to lead 8.6.54 to 6.8.44. The Bombers came out hard in the final quarter, as some of the Rebels were beginning to tire. Frost put through two goals, as Midtown mounted a furious comeback attempt. But they just ran out of time, as the clock ran out with Roswell ahead 9.10.64, to Midtown's 8.11.59.

ROSWELL
Mike Frost, Joey Gilkey, Marty Hyder, Johnny O'Sullivan, Jason Pearce, Hugo Sach, Ward Sullivan
Goals: Frost (4), Hyder, O'Sullivan, Pearce, Sach, Sullivan (1 each)
Best: Sach, O'Sullivan, Gilkey, Frost

MIDTOWN
James Batten, Greg Cave, Darren Fagan, Greg Frost, Dan Heffernan, Wayne Mitchell, Jeremy Schmatz
Goals: Frost (3), Fagan (2), Batten, Heffernan, Schmatz (1 each)
Best: Schmatz, Cave, Frost, Fagan

Report:

In the second game of the day, the new-look Druid Hills Highlanders certainly made a case for being the team to beat in the AARFL this season, easily dispatching the Decatur Devils. Druid Hills started the onslaught from the very beginning, as first-gamer Aaron Krisfalusi kicked the opening goal, and they never looked back, jumping out to a quarter-time lead of 5.4.34 to Decatur's 1.3.9. Ben Crist, who kicked two of those goals, and newcomer Ross LaRosa were controlling the midfield for the Highlanders, as they allowed only the one goal by Decatur's David Sullivan for the term. It was more of the same in the second, as Decatur could only muster another goal from Sullivan, while Druid Hills piled on six more, including three from Briton Rotell, and Marc Buhaj's second of the game, to lead 11.7.73 to Decatur's 2.6.18.

The Devils managed two goals in the third - one each from Tim Roberson and Jim Whooley, but the Highlanders responded with two more from Rotell and another each to Crist and Buhaj to pull even farther away, leading at the final break, 15.9.99, to 4.8.32. Decatur never gave up, and kept fighting to score, earning three goals in the final term, but Druid Hills put the lid on it with four of their own, including two more to Rotell, who finished the game with a spectacular eight goals.
Final score: Druid Hills 19.12.126 defeats Decatur 7.9.51.

DRUID HILLS
Marc Buhaj , Andrew Ciganek, Ben Crist, Brent Kewley, Aaron Krisfalusi, Ross LaRosa, Brian Lucy, Alan Mobley, Briton Rotell
Goals: Rotell (8), Crist (4), Buhaj (3), Ciganek, Kewley, Krisfalusi, Mobley (1 each)
Best: Rotell, Crist, Buhaj, LaRosa, Kewley

DECATUR
Tom Burke, Chris Heberlein, Neil Joyce, Mike Powers, Tim Roberson, David Sullivan, Reid Tankersley, Jim Whooley
Goals: Sullivan (2), Whooley (2), Heberlein, Joyce, Roberson (1 each)
Best: Sullivan, Tankersley, Heberlein