Rhino Slammed past PoNY to win their first-ever championship
October 27, 2024 by Alex Rubin in News with 0 comments
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#9 Portland Rhino Slam! won their first championship with a 15-6 clobbering of #8 New York PoNY. Rhino Slam! did not throw a turnover until midway through the second half and relied on Matt Rehder, Henry Ing, and Raphy Hayes to come away with hucks to take advantage of PoNY’s fronting defense. “The deep game is back and it’s sexier than ever,” Hayes said. “Small ball is dead.”
On the counterattack, Dylan Freechild, Vinh Bui, David Sealand, and Owen Murphy were lethal, moving the disc quickly and tiring out PoNY’s best players. “Our D-line is one of the best D-lines I’ve ever seen,” Jack Hatchett said after the game. “This game is one of the best D-line performances that there’s ever been in our sport.”
Rhino Slam! were established as a team in 1990 and had never finished higher than 3rd at Nationals until this season. Rhino won this game by the biggest margin of victory in a men’s division final since 1995, and are the eighth different men’s division champion in the past eight seasons.
