METAIRIE, La. — The NOLA Gold took advantage of the wind and the heat for a thrilling 32-31 come-from-behind win over the red-hot Seattle Seawolves (8-2) in Metairie, La., last Saturday.
The Gold found themselves down 14-3 early and then 24-10 at the break.
But a big second half sparked by two tries from Jonah Mau'u (AUS) helped the Gold down the Wolves, winners of five straight before visiting the equally hot Gold Mine on Airline.
"We knew it was a little tough playing into the wind, and the wind was quite tricky," first-year NOLA Gold head coach Cory Brown told WWL Louisiana following team practice on Thursday. "We also knew that playing in the heat, they were going to tire, get a little slower and lose a bit of energy. So, we just wanted to play with a lot of energy, play in the right parts of the field and I thought we did that well."
The native New Zealander expects the hotter New Orleans temperatures to give the Gold an even greater advantage at home as the summer approaches.
"We are loving that these teams have to come down and play in the heat," Brown explained. "It's not easy for us, but we're just getting used to it and just making sure we're playing our game, focusing on us and then being able to come home in the second half with a good performance."
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One player who's been performing this season is the last weekend's "Man of the Match."
Not only did Mau'u score two tries, the versatile Australian back-row added 33 ruck entries, one line break and two defenders beaten to his stellar stats in Week 11.
According to Mau'u, the Gold's play is all part of the team's preseason goal of making the playoffs for the first time in franchise history.
"It's the season focus for us," Mau'u told WWL Louisiana. "We have our motto which is 'Above the line,' so we see that as an opportunity that is above the line for us. So, if we go all the way, we're going to continue to make history. There's been a couple of other milestones we've already reached for players and as a team whole, so we want to make sure that definitely this is the year for us."
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With the win, the Gold move to 5-4 overall and are right in the mix for a No. 1 or No. 2 seed in the Eastern Conference.
NOLA gets a chance to build on their win and potentially gain ground on the conference leaders, New England (6-3) and Chicago (5-4-1), who sit 1-2 respectively.
Their first opportunity to build on this game comes against the Utah Warriors (4-6) on Saturday.
And despite a 7 p.m. start, Coach Brown is still expecting Louisiana to bring the heat come game time.
"Hopefully it's a little bit cooler," he said. "You never know in New Orleans because it can be just as hot at night as it is during the day."
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