The Falcon rugby team continued a year of dominance this past weekend by disposing of Cincinnati 77-7.
The 70-point disposal of the inferior Bearcats was just the latest victory in a year that has now seen 44 contests end in favor of BG.
“There was no doubt in my mind that we win. Sometimes you just click, everything goes right, and when that happens for us the point just seem to spill out,” head coach Roger Mazzarella said.
Leading the way for the Falcons, as he has many times before in this, his Sophomore season, was “All-everything” fly back Nick Viviani. Viviani finished with 22 points on the day, the most of any Falcon.
Viviani cited the team’s dedication and hard work during recent practices as one of the reasons for the Falcons dominance as of late.
Nick Brandenstein took all of 30 seconds to get the scoring started, sweeping around the end for the first of his two tries on the day. Not long after that score, Nick’s brother Dan Brandenstein went in for a 50-yard try, a score that would prove to be the go ahead.
After another Nick Brandenstein score and a number of Viviani conversions, BG had built a 27-0 lead, after which a Cincinnati intercepted pass ended in the only Bearcats score of the game.
Captain fullback Ian Gagnon answered the Cincinnati score with one of his own, and after another Viviani conversion, BG took a 34-7 lead into the half-time break.
Following the break, the Falcons’ offense exploded and the defense proved impenetrable.
First was Gagnon, opening up with a quick strike off of a kickoff, making it 39-7. Mark Viviani then plowed through the middle, and following a conversion from Nick Viviani, put the Falcons on top 46-7.
Senior Eric Nutter then exploited a tremendous gap in the Cincinnati defense, taking up the middle untouched and giving BG a 53-7 lead.
“In Rugby, you can’t just call of the dogs or put in your third team,” Mazzarella said. “We couldn’t take everyone out, and that’s when the points spill out like air out of a popped balloon.”
He was right, as nothing the Bearcats threw at the Falcons could stop the massive bleeding en route to the 70-point spread.
Brandenstein, Gagnon and Bryce Pitney then converted on back to back to back scores, taking very little time to do so, putting the Falcons up 70-7. Ryan Bonek then put the finishing touches on the route by picking up a fumble and diving into the end zone to push it to the 77-7 score that would be put in the win column.
The Falcons’ B and C teams were also in action on Saturday. The B squad picked up an impressive 65-3 win, with Mitch Albers’ 20 points leading the way, and the C squad picked up a 69-0 win.
Perhaps the biggest news the Falcons received this weekend is that they now have the No. 4 ranking in the country, behind only California, Brigham Young, and Air Force.
The Falcons will be home twice more this spring with games schedule against Michigan and Notre Dame. Each game should help the Falcons prepare for their trip to the national championship tournament in Albuquerque, N.M.
If the Falcons can continue their run of dominance, a run at a national championship could be just over the horizon.
