Capping off what was a successful 2009 spring season, the Raleigh Rattlesnakes U19 Rugby Club gathered on Saturday May 9th, 2009 at the Raleigh
RFC World Class Rugby Facilities to play in the first ever Raleigh Rattle Battle. The event is meant to mark the end of the standard 15 player a side season and to ready the Rattlesnakes for the start of the rugby seven’s season. Primarily, the Rattle Battle is geared towards fun and for all who participated as well as those who watched, the event did not disappoint. The Rattlesnakes themselves selected their own teams. The Rattle team donned the red jerseys and the Battle team wore the white in this intra-squad matchup. Starting players for the Rattle were Hartley Tempest, Shane McBride, Jacob Milchuck, Alex Mermigkas, Matt Free, Alex Walker and Ty Myatt. Starting players for the Battle were Michael Gambino, Trae England, Gus Carroll, Alan Lusk, Doug Stillwell, Brandon Alvey, Jared Garcia and Jonathan Stamper. There was an abundance of great runs, hits and kicks and at end of four periods of sevens play it was The Rattle that prevailed in this track meet over the Battle 41-38. It would be difficult though to establish bragging rights in that the teams were switched and reselected after two periods of regulation, but this was no matter to the Rattlesnakes. It was all about the play and the fun. 1st Period: The Battle was the first to strike for points when just 30 seconds into the match Brandon Alvey raced to the left corner of the try zone to put the Battle up 5-0. The Rattle’s Hartley Tempest would reverse that lead later as he ran untouched to the middle of the posts. Jacob Milchuck would add the conversion to give the Rattle a 7-5 lead. Trae England added two more tries for the Battle and with Brandon Alvey adding a conversion, the Battle took a commanding 17-7 lead at halftime and it appeared that the Battle had matters well in hand. 2nd Period: Not so fast. The Rattle made adjustments at halftime and exploded for an unanswered 22 points to up the score 29-17 after two periods of regulation seven’s play. Tries for the Rattle were scored by Matt Free on nifty squib kick, Alex Walker, Shane McBride and Hartley Tempest. Jacob Milchuck added a drop kick conversion to round out the scoring.
3rd Period: The Rattle Battle though is more about bragging rights than the score so regulation minutes were ignored as the match continued for two more seven minute periods. Teams were reselected to mix the matchups and play continued on a very warm spring afternoon that would eventually see a high temperature of 90 degrees.