Narberth Otters Win Frostbite 15s for Second Year

The Narberth Otters won the Frostbite 15s Tournament in Lancaster over the weekend with victories over Unionville, Hempfield, and Chambersburg. Traveling with only 17 players, a few of whom were rookies, meant that Narberth had their work cut out for them on the day.

Things started off with a 20-12 victory over Unionville featuring tries by George, Ifeyan, Nick and Cameron. With a game under their belts the guys started getting the hang of it and won their second match against Hempfield by the score of 15-0. Try scorers for that match were Antonio, Evan and Cameron.

For the final match of the day Chambersburg were down a few players so the Otters agreed to play 10s which allowed them to take advantage of their speed and run in tries from Cameron, Nick, Mason, Nate, George, and Evan. After dealing with ludicrously strong winds throughout the day Nate was able to go 5/6 on drop goals to put the squad at 40 points.

After the tournament David Codell spoke with Head Coach Gabe Gliwa, who reported he was “incredibly surprised and happy with the performance this weekend. To travel up there with so many question marks, so many new players, so much inexperience, and to see within a single game, everyone click and find their rhythm was just awesome. We travelled with only 17 bodies and everyone pushed through a long day to win convincingly in our first two games. To still go the extra mile and give a team struggling for a numbers a friendly game of 10 v 10 even though we had their forfeit made me proud. Seeing the talent we have on the field together has me pumped for the season.”

Codell also spoke with with Captain Cameron, who said “we are super excited to have won the tournament for the second year in a row. We had a lot of new players and inexperience in the lineup, but everyone stepped their game up and had fun while winning. Even from the first game into the second the growth and play on the field was measurable. We were thrilled with how well our new players took to the game, specifically Freddy, Antonio, Ryan, and Ifeyan. Additionally, we had some great plays from our sophomores Wyatt, Phil, James, and Henry, and we look forward to having them play for Narberth for two more years. Coach Gabe did a great job preparing us through preseason and leading us on Sunday.”

It’s a good start for the Otters but it’s a long season so let’s hope they’re ready to keep rolling into May!