October 24, 2009 - The Omaha Goats held off a second half Bomber rally, then sealed the match with two late tries to win 40-24 in an entertaining WRFU league match in St. Louis. Goats flyhalf Josh Hartnett contributed 15 points with 3 penalty kicks and 3 conversions to lead his team to victory.
The Goats used the stiff breeze to keep play in St. Louis territory in the first half. Hartnett kicked 3 penalties in the first 20 minutes to put his side up 9-0. Omaha scored from long range to extend their lead to 16-0 at 30 minutes. St. Louis fullback Jeff Rehder powered over to score at 32 minutes, converted by flyhalf Jim Morrison to make it 16-7 in favor of Omaha. The Goats would add a late try on a controversial decision by Canadian referee Randy Dilk to go into the break ahead 23-7.
The young Bombers continued to show their resilience (a theme for the season) as they quickly responded with the wind at their backs. Prop Tim Basler crashed over at 42 minutes, converted by Morrison- 23-14. Bomber center Scott Smith outraced the Goat's deep three to score in the corner and cut the lead to 23-19 at 48 minutes.
But the Goats used an excellent counter attack from deep in their own end to score a try and go up 30-19 at 52 minutes. Rookie Bomber wing Adam Pyke scored in the 56th minute to close the gap to 30-24. The Bombers turned up the pressure, but excellent Omaha defense held off the furious attack in the final 10 minutes. With the Bombers throwing caution to the wind in the final stages, Omaha capitalized on St. Louis mistakes with two late tries and nailed down a well-deserved 40-24 victory.
