(Photo Greg Homolka)

With the pressure to not only win the game, but do it by a certain margin, the Portland Pigs took care of business Saturday afternoon against the Eastside Tsunamis 27-14. Had they won by 6 points or less, it puts them into second, a loss puts them into third place.

“With this scenario, I wanted to put my best possible lineup out there,” Portland head coach Andrew Edmundson said. “We had a couple guys out and some play out of position, but everyone stepped up and did well.”

Highlighted by Tim Garcia’s defense and interception for a 60-meter try, the Pigs started slow, but turned it on in the second half and never looked back. The win not only secures them a first place finish, it also comes with a bye week to heal up and await the winner of ORSU and Eastside.

For the Pigs, it was all about getting possession and running with it on a turf field. However, the Tsunamis didn’t make it easy because of the physicality of their forwards, something you can always count on from Eastside.

Still, Portland stuck to their game plan of having the forwards suck in defenders and getting the ball wide to their backs to finish; a simple, yet effective strategy that allowed the Pigs to rest some of their starters late in the second half.

“We knew what Eastside would bring to the pitch,” Edmundson said. “We brought an equal amount of intensity and passion and that was a big part of the win today.”

Now the Eastside Tsunamis and ORSU play next week in the quarterfinals. The Pigs get a bye week and await the winner, with the victor in that game earning a bid to the PCRFU playoffs in San Francisco.