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Match Report: 2025 Nationals

Saint Louis lights up the desert and brings home their second Division 4 Championship in the last four years.

After months of preparation, the time had finally arrived for the Blues to showcase their abilities on the national stage. Tucson Arizona was dazzled by a weekend of footy thanks to the 2025 USAFL National Tournament. Saint Louis was placed in Division 4 and would face familiar opponents in Orange County (with Cleveland and Arizona), Wasatch (with North Texas), Denver (with Wisconsin and Seattle), and Oklahoma (with Kansas City and Las Vegas). Saint Louis would be joined by the DC Eagles for the weekend.

Saint Louis’s Rhiannon Duryea was paired up with the Austin Crows women’s team (with Houston, Wasatch, and Boston) for the 20th anniversary of the USFLA Nationals Women’s Division.

Game 1

The Blues kicked off the weekend with a Saturday morning rematch against their 2024 Nationals first-round matchup, the Orange County Giants (in combination with Cleveland and Arizona). Saint Louis pulled out the win last year in their meeting and looked to repeat that success. The game started as a struggle for possession between both teams. Finally able to find some control, Orange County scored their first major of the game within the first five minutes. This was quickly nullified by Saint Louis moments later in the form of a Troy Kirk major. With these majors, the floodgates would open as both Orange County and Saint Louis scored again, giving Kirk his second of the game. Orange County would score two more times, and both teams would score a few behinds. At the end of the half the Giants led 28-14.

The scoring would start early in the second half, as Alex Tajkowski would open his weekend tally within the first minute of the half. The next several minutes would be a back-and-forth battle in the midfield between the two teams before Orange County was able to score their first goal towards the 10-minute mark. But the Blues would strike back quickly with a buildup of multiple marks, leading to Kirk’s third major of the game. Immediately after the ball-up, Tajkowski would find the center sticks for his second on the day. Tajkowski would try for his third again following his second, but the attempt was called back for a behind, tying the game at 34. In the dying minutes of the game, Orange County would find their own surge of offense, scoring two majors and a couple behinds to close out the contest. Final score: Saint Louis 5-4-24, Orange County 7-6-48.

Game 2

In their second match-up for Saturday, the Blues would try to bounce back against a combined side of Oklahoma/Kansas City/Las Vegas. Both sides were already familiar with each other, as Saint Louis faced both Oklahoma and Kansas City in early May and Kansas City at home in August. Oklahoma started strong and took a 13-0 lead. Following this, the Blues would find their scoring form with Stephen Zenishek and Pat Frew both providing majors, as well as Tajkowski adding two more to his daily total. Oklahoma would also score once more as Saint Louis would roll into the half with a 27-20 lead.

Saint Louis continued their scoring form, as a centering kick in the forward pocket from Joel Friesen found Tajkowski, who added yet another major to his weekend total. Minutes later, Saint Louis would find the center sticks for the sixth time in the game from Mark Politz. The Blues also put on a defensive masterclass, only allowing one point in the second half. Tajkowski managed one more major, and Zenishek would find himself with the ball in front of goal in the dying seconds of the game, resulting in one last major to end the day. Saint Louis went on to win 7-7-49 to 3-3-21, and Saturday ended with a record of 1-1.

Game 3

Saint Louis went into Sunday morning looking to continue their winning ways, with their first obstacle being a combined side of the Wasatch Wargulls and North Texas Devils. The first half would start off in a tightly contested manner. Both teams would score a few behinds, but the first major was not scored until close to the 10-minute mark by Wasatch. Saint Louis would answer quickly with a major from Witcomb, his second of the weekend. A hard-fought battle from Zenishek would result in the Blues having their second scoring opportunity. After wrestling for the ball, Zenishek would find Kirk open in the pocket, who would slot away his fourth on the weekend, giving Saint Louis their first lead of the game. Wasatch would find the center sticks once more, and the half would end in a tie at 14 all.

Although the scoring increased, the second half continued to show a tightly contested game. Wasatch would strike first about five minutes into the second half, regaining their lead. They would add on to that lead with a couple of behinds only minutes later. But Tajkowski would fire back with his hot foot from the day prior, bringing his major total to seven. The scoring barrage would continue, as both Wasatch and Saint Louis (from Kirk) would again find the center sticks within minutes of each other. Defensive heroics from Dalton Foster would prevent a trickle-in major from Wasatch. The Wargulls would score once more, but a major each from Tajkowski and Kirk brought the Blues a 6-4-40 to 5-4-34 victory. Saint Louis would improve to 2-1 with one last match to be played.

Game 4

Game 4 brought a 2024 Nationals rematch of the Saint Louis Blues versus the Denver Bulldogs (combined with Wisconsin and Seattle). Denver knocked Saint Louis out of title contention at the 2024 Nationals and would look to put the Blues away to repeat premierships. After a physical first few minutes of the game, Denver would be the first to score a major. Saint Louis would answer back quickly, as Kirk would play on after a mark with a handball to Friesen, who would slot away his first of the weekend. Friesen would also find his second major minutes later, as the Blues would take a 13-6 lead. Looking to take control of their own fate, Saint Louis would score twice more before the end of the half, with majors from Zenishek and Frew. The Blues would go into the half leading 28-8.

Denver opened the scoring early in the second half, with a quick kick out of the ruck, which was marked in the forward 50, resulting in a Denver major. In the middle portion of the half, fans would witness a defensive showcase. Scoring would be limited, except for a few behinds from each team. The Blues would finally break through with about 5 minutes left in the game, in the form of Tajkowski’s ninth major of the weekend. Saint Louis would add two more majors to the scoresheet. Friesen would wrestle the ball out of the hands of the Denver defenders and take a quick snap-kick for his third of the game, and Frew, after scrumming the ruck, would fight through Denver’s midfield and launch a kick from 50 meters, resulting in his third major of the weekend. Denver would score once more before the final whistle, but the damage had been done, and Saint Louis would win the day 7-10-52 to 3-2-20.

Both Denver and Saint Louis would end the weekend with a record of 3-1, so the deciding factor for the Division 4 championship came down to Head-to-Head and Percentage. Based on these results, Saint Louis would bring home their second Division 4 Premiership in four years.

Women’s Division

Saturday, Duryea and the Austin Crows would face off against the DC Eagles (with Philadelphia, Virginia, and Bayou) and the New York Magpies (with Columbus and Cincinnati). Fans would see Duryea playing in both a defensive and forward position throughout the weekend.

Austin would start their weekend with a commanding win over the DC Eagles. The final score saw Austin on top 2-11-23 to 0-1-1.

Austin’s second game was much more of a nailbiter that kept the fans on the edge of their seats. After trailing during the first half and for most of the second, New York would take their first lead with just under a minute left in the game. Austin would win the following ruck and immediately push the ball forward. Austin’s full forward would make a mark just as the final horn blew and slotted home the game-winning major. Final score, Austin 3-1-19 to 3-0-18.

Sunday would not play out quite as well as Saturday. Austin would face Denver (with Sacramento) in their semi-final matchup. Austin would drop this matchup to the eventual Division winners, 0-1-1 to 5-8-38.

Austin went on to face the Golden Gate Iron Maidens for the third-place match-up. They would drop another heartbreaker, as they would end their weekend with a 2-2 record. Final score, Austin 0-0-0, Golden Gate 4-5-29.

We’d like to thank all the fans who attended nationals, as well as those who supported us throughout the season at our games. We’d also like to thank the DC Eagles for their help at Nationals, and Austin for hosting Rhiannon for the weekend.

We will be wrapping up the season with our annual Halloween Metro, Annual General Meeting, and Navy Soiree. We look forward to seeing you all next year.

ST. LOUIS 2.2 5.4 (34)

ORANGE COUNTY 4.4 7.6 (48)

ST. LOUIS 4.3 7.7 (49)

OKLAHOMA 3.2 3.3 (21)

ST. LOUIS 2.2 6.4 (40)

WASATCH 2.2 5.4 (34)

ST. LOUIS 4.4 7.10 (52)

DENVER 1.2 3.2 (20)

Goals

St Louis: Tajkowski (9), Kirk (6), Zenishek (3), Frew (3), Friesen (3), Witcomb (2), Politz (1)