Dragons Leading the Charge in SCAFL

While the USAFL and American Aussie Rules was born from teams in the Midwest, it was cultivated in many outposts across the country.  Southern California is one of those places, and over the past two decades has produced some of the best footballers and clubs the league has seen.

The closeness of the cities there – Los Angeles, the suburban areas that encompass Orange County, and San Diego, have been instrumental in that fertilization.  For many years, those clubs have cultivated a local metro competition that was among the best in the country – the Southern California Australian Football League (SCAFL).

After largely being a four and five team circuit, this year the competition expanded to six teams: Two from the Los Angeles Dragons, two from the Orange County Bombers, the Riverside Saints which provide players to both teams, and the San Diego Lions.  Each team played the others once in a round robin, with the top two qualifying for this weekend’s grand final.

With the Bombers coming across as the second best team in the country each of the last two years, it was expected that their two entries – the B-52s and the Jets -- would be the ones playing for the final.

But the L.A. Dragons, who were founded in 2010 as an offshoot of Orange County, have been building their reputation steadily as a top side both locally and nationally, winning the Division 2 National Championship in 2014.

The club has been growing, on and off the field, and against heavily fancied Orange County and two tough invader sides, the Dragons’ two teams, L.A. Blue and L.A. Black, will be the ones to fight it out for the SCAFL crown.

On paper, both teams had a seemingly easy run through the five game season, finishing at 4-1, and being the only teams to finish with a percentage over 100%.  In fact, each scored more than double than their opponents during the campaign.

L.A. Blue dropped their opener to the O.C. Jets by 27 points before ripping off four in a row, scoring a league best 473 points.  Chris Salvatore was the offensive talisman for them, as he kicked a league-leading seventeen majors for the season.  They have also picked up strong performances from newcomers such as Chris D’Agastino, Keith Wilson, and Andrei Jansen. 

Donald Lee, who will be in the mix to represent the US in next year’s International Cup at ruck, came back from injury this week, which will be a good sign for the metro team and the Dragons at large.  Bill McGovern and Paul Ioakim have also been deadly for the blue guys.

On the other side of the coin, L.A. Black’s only hiccup came against their Blue Dragon brethren last month.  Dragons club captain Chris Bagot has been their inspiration during the run, buoyed by another Revo hopeful, Gabriel Martin del Campo, a midfielder with strength.

The Black team also has their share of strong recruits featuring Sam Murphy, Justin Kenna, and Luke Dempsey.  The Dragons are hoping to see them possibly come through the ranks and be considered for the National team in years to come.

No matter who wins the Grand Final, Dragons leader Justin Hall, who formerly played for the Manly-Warringah Giants team that toured the USAFL Nationals in 2014, is optimistic by what the SCAFL performance means for the Dragons’ 2016 season.

“This has been a really positive season,” said Hall.  “We’ve had 40 players come out so far, and we hope to bring a really strong team to Salem for the USAFL Western Regional Tournament in July.  We expect our [USAFL Top 20] ranking to go up, and with our best 22 players on the field, we should be able to win.”

The biggest challenge for Hall and the Dragons, however, will be getting their best team across the country to Sarasota for this year’s National Championships.  The Dragons brought a strong side last year to Austin to compete in Division 1 for the first time in club history, and played well despite going 0-3 on the weekend.

“We’re looking at doing fundraisers to help offset some of the costs,” explained Hall.  “But we’re also recruiting heavily, and many of them are already paying dividends in the metro league.  We’ve recruited from the junior colleges in Santa Monica, and some of the area rugby teams too.  Many of them are Americans, and there are a few who grew up here but have Australian parents, so they already have the game in their blood.”

In talking about the SCAFL competition, Hall pointed out the performance of the San Diego Lions, the one time dual Div 1 National Champions who had slipped all the way to Division 4.  The Lions took out Divvy 4 in Austin last year over Kansas City in the final, and played their way into 3rd on the SCAFL ladder with wins over both O.C. teams and Riverside.

“Even in defeat against our two teams, they played like a much improved team,” he said.  “They’re getting back to where they once were.”

The Lions will take on the O.C. Jets for 3rd place as part of the day’s finals festivities.  The B-52s, meanwhile, will tangle with the Riverside Saints for 5th.  The Saints have struggled in SCAFL competition over the last couple of years, but managed to finish the season with a victory over the B-52s in the last round of the season.

The Bombers struggles can be attributed to injuries, club turnover, and the absence of several vital players.  Key forward Lachie Agars, for example, is back in Australia, and will be returning later on in the year.  But Hall and the Dragons expect them to be tough come Nationals, where they may get drawn into the same group.