The Bowling Green rugby team crushed Ohio and edged Toledo to stay undefeated in Mid-America Conference club rugby play. The Falcons cruised past the Bobcats 70-24 while coming from behind in the last seconds to beat UT 17-13. BG’s rookies also split with the Bobcats, winning 17-10 and losing 26-0.
Only last fall, BG, slogging through a sloppy field and battling 35 mph winds, crafted a hard fought 24-12 victory against OU. But with a sunny day and a fast track, it was off to the races as BG ran in twelve tries against the team that is easily their toughest competition in the conference.
Despite the big score, Mazzarella was ambivalent about the overall result.
“Yes, we won big but we only played hard in spurts,” he said. “We’d slack off a bit and Ohio would score a couple tries. We would then have to crank it up again to maintain the point differential. That is a pretty dangerous game of Russian roulette to play with momentum. There is no doubt, however, when we were on, we were really on.”
Highlighting the game was wing Ian Gagnon’s total domination of his OU counterpart. The fleet junior touched the ball just seven times but managed to turn six of those chances into tries, including one that covered 99 yards. Gagnon just missed tying wing Kevin Mongold’s record of seven tries set in the fall of 2000 against the University of Michigan.
“If that had been a football game out there instead of rugby, Ian would been credited with gaining 450 yards rushing,” Mazzarella said.
Though OU kept the match close to the vest in the opening minutes, once wing Dave Demings punched in the first of his two tries for BG, there was a steady parade of Falcons crossing the goal line, all interspaced with a try or two by Gagnon.
Vince Staropoli, who’s pinpoint passes set up most of Gagnon’s tries, put in two while Brian Knaupe and Art Pietrangelo scored one each from short yardage with Pietrangelo’s coming on a pushover try involving all the forwards.
BG also edged arch rival Toledo 17-13 in an exciting match won by the Falcons just seconds before the final whistle. The match had the lead change five times, and despite the low score, has been proclaimed one of the most exciting BG has ever played.
“Tight games hinge on every single move by everyone involved,” Mazzarella said. “Win or lose they are a heck of a lot more fun to coach than blowouts.”
Rookie wing Kevin Hendrickson’s try gave BG a brief 5-0 lead and to see that evaporate with a Toledo try and penalty kick to make the score 8-5 Toledo. Hendrickson then fielded his on punt on the first bounce and in full stride to waltz into the end zone to put BG back on top 10- 8. Toledo scrum half Jeremy Mantai punched in another try for the Rockets and BG was again behind 13-10.
With time running out, scrum half Boyd Davis slipped through a seem in the Rocket defense and then won the 60 yard foot race to the goal line for the winning try. His conversion kick ended the match with BG on top 17-13.
BG’s rookies split with Ohio University, winning 17-10, only to lose the nightcap 26-0. Scoring tries for BG in the victory were wing Scott Wallace, flanker Richie Hines and center Ben Fledderjohann. Fly half Mike Norton booted the only conversion.
On Saturday, the Falcons, now 16-3, will host the 32nd annual Mid America Conference club rugby tournament. BG has been the reigning MAC champions since 1982, a streak in collegiate sports that is topped only by the Mt. Union swimming team with 26 straight Ohio Athletic Conference titles.
Attending will be the four clubs that finished the highest I the league standings — BG, Kent, Ohio and Ball State.
BG will take on Kent State at 11 a.m. while Ohio faces off with Ball State at noon. The losers of the first two matches will play again at 2 p.m. while the winners determine the champion at 3 p.m. All matches will be held at the College Park Rugby Field on the corner of Poe Road and N. College. Admission is free.
