The Bowling Green rugby men’s team lost two of three matches in the National Collegiate Championship last weekend in Berkeley, Calif. The Falcons defeated St. Mary’s College 39–30, but were beaten by Cal-Berkeley, 40-15, and Purdue University 32–29.
For 52 minutes the Falcons grabbed the attention of the collegiate rugby world as they led the Cal-Berkeley Golden Bears, winners of 19 national championships in the last 24 years, by a score of 15–13. Behind 13–0, BG silenced nearly 7000 Cal fans as the Falcons clawed back to take the lead which they held until nearly midway through the second half.
“We have a senior-heavy team whose goal was to finish the job they set out to do four years ago,” BG coach Roger Mazzarella said. “Losing never feels good, but if they could have stepped out of their bodies and stood next to me on the sideline, they would have watched 52 minutes of the greatest rugby I’ve ever seen played.”
In their first match, the Falcons had to constantly beat back St. Mary’s squad. Reserve scrum half Brian Farrell had his best day as a Falcon, scoring three of BG’s six tries.
Along with a conversion and penalty field goal by fly half Derek Imes, BG held a 20–10 lead at halftime. Tries by fullback Ben Gutek and fly half Boyd Davis and a Gutek conversion made the score 32–10. St. Mary’s got the opening they needed, closing the gap with four straight tries to give BG a slim 32–30 lead. Hooker Andrew Hughes put the game out of reach at 39-30 with his try and Gutek’s successful conversion.
Against Cal, the Golden Bears built a 13–0 lead. It took senior flanker Alex Demma, however, to change the entire complexion of the game. Demma laid a hard tackle on Cal fly half Kyle Khasigian. Seizing the momentum, BG quickly chipped away at the Cal lead as the Golden Bears tried to find a solution to the Falcon offense. Wing Alessio DiFranco put BG on the board with a penalty field goal. Wing Ian Gagnon took a Cal kick upfield, and 50 yards, four passes and two fakes later, fullback Jake Puhl touched down for a try. DiFranco’s conversion put BG behind by just three points at 13-10.
With the collapse of a Falcon drive near the goal line, Cal was awarded a scrum on their five yard line. As the ball emerged, scrum half Vince Staropoli stole the ball out of Khasigian’s hands and dove in for the try and a 15–13 lead. It was a lead that BG would hold for the next twenty minutes. Only one other club had ever held a lead on Cal at halftime of a rugby game — the 1986 Falcons.
With their title hopes on the line, the enraged Bears struck back. Cal reeled off 27 unanswered points to finish on top.
Facing Purdue in the consolation match, BG hoped to avenge a 29–0 loss to the Boilermakers in the Midwest championship. Purdue started the second half with a try that was matched by a quick tap penalty by Staropoli. The Boilermakers then went ahead with what would prove to be the winning points with a converted try and a penalty kick. BG wing Ian Gagnon’s try made it 32 — 29 Purdue.
The Falcons, now 18–6, will close out their season with a home match Saturday against the Cleveland senior men’s rugby club. Game time will be at 1 p.m. at the College Park Rugby Field.
