It was Monday Night Football in Chicago as Coogee continued their US tour with a victory in the Midwest Nines event over the Chicago Stockyarders at Lincoln Park. The event drew a large crowd in balmy conditions along the Lakefront at Lincoln Park and the Stockyarders were boosted by the sight of guest of honor for the evening, original Stockyarders winger Dan Hoskins.

The Dolphins started where they had left off in game one in Jacksonville (Axemen 0 Dolphins 16) and had the home team Stockyarders shell shocked with two early scores from Nick Daly who was a tower of strength up front and half Nick Serafino. In a game played in an "NHL style" three periods, the Stockyarders looked to be out of their depth until USA international pairing Quinn Macali and Dave Whitney combined when Macali threw an unbelievable "no look" pass to send Whitney through under the posts for a score of 4-8 in favor of Coogee. It was this play that seemed to inspire the home team who then settled into a better completion rate with props Pat Rappleye and Phil Spagnolo in particular making a big impression with some big meters for the Yarders.

The second period saw some "tit for tat" scoring with Molloy crossing for Coogee whilst long term Stockyarder Brian Rooney got over from dummy half for the Yarders after Rusty Whitney had broken through weak Coogee defense from his right center berth making the score 12-12.

With the third period a tense affair, Josh Berkers scored for Coogee for 16-12 and in all honesty by this stage, the Dolphins could have been further ahead but in a foot race, Rooney came from nowhere to halt a Dolphins breakaway in the corner to keep Chicago's hopes alive. This was a pivotal time of the game and that man Rooney popped up again to out sprint the defense after Chicago had kept the ball alive in a flowing move involving Doyle, Macali and Adjei and the game was tied at 16-16 going into the two minute warning. However straight from the re-start Coogee half Serafino waltzed through some poor Stockyarders and the Australians looked to have won the game.

With the score now 16-20, the Stockyarders were not quite done though and after great hands across the line with the last play of the game, Zibi Pawlowski dove for the corner as the Dolphins cover scrambled to stop him in. Pawlowski managed to ground the ball however much to the consternation of the home crowd, referee Featherstone deemed him to have placed a foot in touch during a last ditch Dolphins defensive effort to keep the Dolphins unbeaten on their latest US tour.

A huge thank you to League Unlimited who sponsored the MVP award which was won by Nick Serafino (Coogee Dolphins).

Stockyarders

Zibi Pawlowski
Ian Rose
Eric Hunt
Russell Whitney
Sondai Adjei
Quinn Macali (c)
Dave Whitney
Pat Rappleye
Phil Spagnolo

Subs

Colin Doyle
Brian Rooney
Nico Cuevo

Tries: D Whitney, R Whitney, Rooney (2).

Dolphins

Tries: Day (2), Molloy, Berkers, Serafin

Stockyarders MVP: Phil Spagnolo/Brian Rooney

Referee: Mike Featherstone (MWRL)

Venue: Lincoln Park, Chicago