April 28 2024
By Cody Roy
Boston Glory kicked off the 2024 UFA Season with a 19-17 win, withstanding a fourth-quarter push by the visiting Montreal Royal.
The matchup was the long-awaited debut of veteran signing Jeff Babbitt, who earned a clear Player of the Game nod with 3 goals and a whopping 5 blocks, working out of the Boston O-Line. Babbitt’s presence was announced less than 3 minutes into the game with a layout block on Thomas Lalonde-Landry, one of 2 blocks on his first Glory point.
Boston earned a pair of breaks to end the first quarter with a 6-4 lead.
The winds quickly picked up as the sun set, leading to a marathon point to open the 2nd quarter, featuring 10 changes of possession. Both clubs would burn a timeout before Simon Carapella found Jeff Babbitt cutting to the front cone to end a 6 minute, 47 second point.
Both teams would follow this with quick breaks (Montreal's first break of the game), as the first half closed with Boston leading 9-7.
Glory’s D-Line came to life in the 3rd quarter, to the tune of 4 breaks, with the help of some pivotal blocks from Gustav Haflin, and rookie handler Jonah Stang-Osborne. Stang-Osborne raced down his own pull, threw out a foot to get his first block, and eventually threw his first career assist.
Glory looked set to pull away with the game after the 3rd quarter, with a 16-11 lead.
After an 0-12 finish last season, Royal came into their opener with plenty to prove. Facing a big deficit and a new-look Glory O-Line, Montreal was not prepared to go down without a fight.
On the back of strong defensive play from Julien Bernat and Antoine Dube, Royal forced mistakes and began clawing their way back into the game. It took Royal 7 minutes to earn 4 consecutive breaks, closing the gap to just 1 goal. With time running out in a close game, Boston was looking for a spark.
With backs to the wall, Glory’s O-Line would finally find their footing on the 2nd of Topher Davis’ 2 goals. After a Sadok huck was broken up by Dube, Montreal was unable to find the tying tally after Babbitt jumped a route, restoring a 17-15 lead for Boston.
From there, both O-Lines would trade holds, maintaining the 2-goal margin and a 19-17 Glory victory.
With no shortage of new faces on this year’s Glory roster, all eyes were on the debutants:
Tannor Johnson-Go recorded 2 goals and an assist in his first game since 2022, while Boston native Ben Katz, signed from New York Empire earlier in the week recorded a goal and 100% throwing in his team debut. Dillon Cooke earned his first goal while defender Luke Webb recorded 2 blocks and an assist. Finally, Stang-Osborne earned an assist and block, as well as cementing himself as a threatening puller.
Royal’s Quentin Bonnaud, returning from an injury that saw him miss the entire 2023 season, led all players with 5 goals. Tobe Decraene, Royal’s lone rookie, announced himself with a game-high 7 total scores- 3 goals and 4 assists.
Royal are back in action Saturday night in New York, while Glory host Toronto Rush on May 4th at 5pm.
