Philadelphia defeat Jacksonville in USA Championship Final

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The Philadelphia Fight took the 2016 title as USARL Champions by defeating Jacksonville Axemen 42-20 in Boston.  

Game gets off to slow start, but Fight finish the first half with the lead.

For the first 30 minutes of the game, mistakes and penalties hindered both teams as they tried to take control.  With about ten minutes left in the first half, Philadelphia’s stand off, Joel Weeks scored the first try and after a successful Mike Timpano conversion, the Fight took a 6-0 lead over the Axemen.
With less than two minutes left in the half, the Fight’s Jared Frymorer scored Philadelphia’s second try and with another Timpano conversion the Fight held a 12 point advantage over the Axemen.  Just before halftime, Jacksonville’s Jonathan Halter scored the Axemen’s first try and after Hayden’s conversion the halftime score was Philadelphia 12 – Jacksonville 6.

Philadelphia take control in second half to win the USARL Championship.

Philadelphia began the second half with two tries by Rhys Bowdich and Timpano missed the first of the two conversions but redeemed himself on the second.  After these two tries Philadelphia led Jacksonville 22-6.
Jacksonville quickly responded with two tries of their own. Axeman Tyler McClain scored the first but the conversion failed and this cut the Fight’s lead to ten points.  Following this, Axeman Jonathan Halter scored another try and kicked the conversion. With 23 minutes left, the score stood at Philadelphia 22 – Jacksonville 16.
Following the Axemen’s second try, the Philadelphia Fight took almost total control of the game. With 15 minutes left, Philadelphia’s Josh Vaartjes and Mike Timpano teamed up with a respective try and conversion which increased the Fight’s lead to 12 points again.  Just one minute later, the Fight’s Bowdich scored another (unconverted) try bringing the score to Philadelphia 32 – Jacksonville 16.
With 11 minutes left, Philadelphia’s Mike Gentile scored yet another try for his team.  Even though Timpano missed the conversion, the Fight extended their lead over the Axemen to 20 points.  Just three minutes later, Bowdich scored his fourth try of the game and Timpano’s conversion built Philadelphia lead to 26 points.
As the game ended, Jacksonville’s Urban Iyo scored one more (unconverted) try for his team.  After these final Axemen points, the 2016 USA Rugby League Championship Game ended with the score Philadelphia Fight 42 – Jacksonville Axemen 20.

 The match was played on 27/8/16 at Nickerson Field in the grounds of Boston University
It was Philadelphia Fight's 4th USARL Championship following on from 2011, 2013 & 2014.

Philadelphia Fight finished the season on 11-0-0, scoring 535 points, and conceding 108.
The Jacksonville Axemen finished on 8-1-0, scoring 307 points, and conceding 142.

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