Travel to Salt Lake City To Face Utah Warriors

By John Arthur

The Glendale Raptors are on the road again this week, traveling to Salt Lake City to take on the Utah Warriors at Zions Bank Stadium. The Raptors were in Washington State last weekend, besting the Seattle Seawolves in a hard-fought, rainy battle. Currently atop the league standings, the Glendale side looks to further the success of their inaugural professional season with a win against Utah. Kickoff Saturday is at 1:30pm Mountain Time, and the game can be watched live on AT&T Sports Net, or via ESPN+.

Raptors Assistant Coach Ted Browner describes how the team is preparing for their second away match: “We are continuing to fine tune our processes and are working to stay with our pattern for longer periods of the game. Utah brings a very physical side and nearly came back against San Diego last weekend. We need to stay focused for the full 80 minutes to prevent that happening to us.”

The Warriors fell to San Diego last weekend, fighting hard to recover from an early deficit. Playing on their home field, San Diego Legion was named MLR’s team of the week for their performance. The Raptors’ close victory over Seattle perhaps belied the exceptional poise the team displayed, with long time Glendale man Zach Fenoglio being named both the player of the match and player of the week by the league. Displaying versatility by starting at Flanker and moving to Hooker, the Denver native also converted a crucial try, the result of an exceptional, determined solo effort.

Glendale Head Coach David Williams is looking forward to taking on the Utah side again, and expects his team will put in a good performance: “Every week we first look at how we performed against our last opponent, then we put that to bed and look forward. We’re always looking to refine areas of our performance and be more efficient,” he said. “We know Utah want to play a fast, physical game, but that they can also play a territorial match off the boot of Kurt Morath.” Though fielding the dangerous Tongan flyhalf, the Warriors will be without Josh Whippy, a lynchpin for Utah’s on-field leadership, who suffered a broken leg in the team’s final preseason game. Entering week three of the MLR season, this weekend’s matches are critical for teams to begin establishing themselves in the league.

The Raptors next match will be their second on the team’s home field at Infinity Park, pitting the squad against San Diego Legion at 6pm Mountain Time. Throughout the inaugural MLR season, CBSSN will broadcast the game of the week, with non-game of the week matches broadcast by AT&T Sports Net or Cox Communications, and also available through ESPN+.