With the pressure on them to finish out the season with bonus point wins and set up a final showdown with Ohio the Denver Stampede delivered with a thumping 59-23 win over the San Diego Breakers in near 100 degree temperatures at CIBER Field. Denver were simply too lethal with their chances throughout the match while San Diego were found wanting in many aspects.
Even with the win the pressure is on Denver to continue to win, beginning with Sacramento their final home match of the season. For San Diego they are left looking for answers once again. After getting off to a great start they have now lost five matches in a row, including several with their full internationals available.
Max De Achaval got the first points on the board roughly seven minutes into the match. After being held up on an initial chance Denver used their scrum to set up their backs where De Achaval was there to convert.
Take the jump to read more.
San Diego weren't helped when talisman Kurt Morath went down with injury and was forced from the action. However, even with Morath on the pitch early the Breakers had a difficult time stopping anything Denver did.
Denver's second try was a result of more hard work from their forwards with Peter Dahl scoring. Kalei Konrad was able to get a couple of penalties for San Diego to halve the deficit at 12-6 but a try from Hanco Germishuys, who was fantastic once again on the day, in the 25th minute gave Denver a 19-6 lead. Timana Tahu made the initial break before finding the supporting Germishuys.
Credit to San Diego who scored a try from Joe Taufete'e to make the score 19-11. The Breakers did have some bright spots in the half but overall weren't able to put enough together to bother Denver much. Unfortunately for the Breakers they started the second half with 14 men as Andrew Suniula was shown a yellow card late for killing an opportunity. That allowed Zach Fenoglio to score a try to push the halftime score to 26-11.
Denver put any doubts about the match to rest with a strong spell early in the second half. A beautiful grubber from Magie bounced perfectly into the hands of Mike Garrity to start the second half scoring. Zach Pangelinan did have a try for San Diego right after the Garrity try after Denver miss hit a clearance kick and San Diego were able to counter for the try but it was simply too much Denver. Germishuys, Fenoglio, and Garrity scored their second tries each to push Denver past 50 points. Timana Tahu and Ryan Matyas traded fantastic tries to end the match.
Denver will be happy that they were able to pick up the bonus point win. Had they been able to pick up more bonus points throughout the season they wouldn't feel as much pressure to stay with Ohio. For San Diego they will be left with more questions for answers as they travel to Boxer Stadium to face San Francisco.
Denver
Tries: De Achaval, Dahl, Germishuys (2), Fenoglio (2), Garrity (2), Tahu
Conversions: Magie (6), Malifa
San Diego
Tries: Taufete'e, Pangelinan, Matyas
Conversions: Konrad
Penalties: Konrad (2)
