What a difference a year – and an overseas trip – make. Last fall, the BGSU rugby team clawed its way past the 11th-ranked
University of Dayton with a trio of one-point victories. Saturday, the Flyers went down in flames, under attack from every direction by a relentless ball control Falcon offense. BG whitewashed Dayton 53-0, 30-0, 5-0 and 5-0 to maintain a solid lock of the seventh spot in the national rankings.
The oppressive heat and home-opening jitters conspired against the Falcons to keep the scores from becoming any more of a rout than they already were.
“We tried to do too much in the first half,” BG coach Roger Mazzarella said. “All of our first half tries came on breakaways and defensive lapses by Dayton. Once we settled down, all the second half tries came from the offense working the ball down the field.”
The key to the Falcons’ success was veteran fly half Chad Cunnigan’s methodical dissection of the Flyer defense. “Chad did a great job of reading the defense on Saturday,” Mazzarella said.
With Dayton coming up hard to stop BG’s much feared backfield, Cunnigan exploited any gap that appeared in the defense and fed centers Pete Cromly and Travis Budd as they hit the holes.
BG captain Vince Staropoli singled out the play of flanker Alex Demma as one of the keys to the game.
“He seemed to be everywhere at once,” Staropoli said. “If he wasn’t scoring the try himself then he was stripping the ball from the Flyer runners to set someone else up for the score.”
Wings Kevin Mongold and Alessio DiFranco stole the show for the Falcons in the first half. Mongold, who has been nothing less than a scoring machine since his seven-try debut against Michigan two years ago, reeled off a pair of tries, each from over fifty yards out. DiFranco, enjoying his first full-time stint on the 1st XV, also churned up big yardage on a pair of tries.
“If those two don’t beat you on the outside, they are more than happy to run you over. Pick your poison,” chuckled Mazzarella.
Pete Cromly’s lone first half conversion made the score 22-0 at the half with BG’s best rugby of the day yet to come. The crowd had yet to resettle in their seats following halftime when Staropoli waltzed untouched across the goal line to set off a five-try Falcon scoring explosion that would become a recurring nightmare for the Flyers. Staropoli and Demma took turns scoring tries, as the Falcon captain would end up with a hat trick and Demma with his first pair of the season. Cromly’s three conversions would make the final 53-0.
“We’ve got some things to work on with our backfield timing, but I’m confident we’ll look good when Marshall and Virginia Tech come in over the next two weeks,” Staropoli said.
