The Bowling Green rugby juggernaut continued to role on as the Falcons won their 25th straight conference title, crushing a feisty Ball State club 69-19 in the title match of the Pepsi Mid America Conference Club Rugby Tournament.

The victory completed yet another perfect season in conference play for the Falcons. It was BG’s fifth straight sweep of conference matches and their twentieth in the last nineteen years.

“A quarter century as conference champion,” BG head coach Roger Mazzarella said. “I like the way that rolls off the lips.”

He should.

Mazzarella was the Falcon captain in 1982 when the Falcons win streak first started. That squad beat a good Miami club 15-12 to set a standard of excellence that continues to this day. The sport has changed considerably since he patrolled the side of the scrum at the flanker position.

“That game, like most games, was decided entirely by penalty kicks,” Mazzarella said. “Nowadays we score tries like rain falling from the sky.”

In Ball State the Falcons were facing a team that is committed to emulate BG’s success.

“All week we made a point in practice of saying that BG has set the standard and we intend to match that standard,” Cardinals coach Jay Barnes said.

A former University of Indiana rugger who has tasted both victory and defeat at the hands of the Falcons, Barnes has charted a course for the Cardinals that he thinks will bring them up to BG’s level within the next year if not sooner.

And briefly at the start of the championship match, it looked like the future was now for the Cardinals. Showing the usual disdain for BG’s flat out speed on the outside, Ball State allowed wing Dave Demings to cruise unmolested 50 yards down the sideline for the first of his four tries in the game. Fly half Derek Imes’s conversion made it a quick 7-0.

Unfazed, the Cardinals roared right back to recycle the ball twelve times until flanker Colin Potter fell in the end zone for a try. His conversion tied the match at 7-7.

“That try was a very necessary wake up call for us,” stated Mazzarella. “Those guys (Ball State) obviously hadn’t driven up here to hand us the trophy on a silver platter.”

Unfortunately for Ball State, sleeping giants are best left that way — sleeping. Through the rest of the first half, the Falcons poured twenty-nine unanswered points into the end zone. Spliting four tries evenly between them were lock Ryan Deal and his partner Aaron Slates. Also joining the end zone celebration was scrum half Vince Staropoli. Imes landed two conversions and BG led 36-7 at the half.

Ball State rallied briefly on a pair of Potter tries to start off the second half but then the Cardinals seemed to wilt under the relentless pounding by the Falcon’s offense. Demings continued to exploit the Cardinals failure to defend on the outside and used the unguarded lane to score a hat trick in the second period alone and scrum half Brian Knaupe punched in a pair from short range.

Staropoli finished off the best piece of rugby of the day and brought the cheering crowd to its feet with his try late in the game. On a three on two break, Staropoli fed center Ben Fledderjohann with a pass who then hit Demings on the outside. Demings then dished off to Fledderjohann who then option passed Staropoli hard charging up the middle for the try.

“That was as pretty a piece of rugby as you are ever going to see,” Mazzarella said.

Imes finished off the scoring in the match by hitting three of six conversions in the 69-19 victory.

The Falcons, now 20-3 will travel to Detroit this weekend to participate in the Tradesmen Rugby classic.

“With the 1st XV still unbeaten, it is time that we start addressing our goal of going undefeated this season,” BG captain Vince Staropoli said.

Despite all the championships and stellar won-loss records, in 74 seasons, BG’s first side has never had an undefeated season.

“In addition to all we’ve done off the field, we felt that was a worthy way to honor Roan Gouws,” Staropoli added.

Gouws, an assistant coach for BG in 2004, was murdered while being robbed in South Africa in January. The club has raised nearly $4000 to help Gouws’ family with medical expenses.

The Falcons will likely face Northern Michigan, Michigan State and Michigan Tech in the opening rounds of the one-day tournament. BG will finish its season at home on April 30th against the Cleveland Eastern Suburbs senior men’s club.