The BG men’s rugby team continued their winning ways and added another W to their undefeated season with a 62-20 win over Dayton on Saturday.
The victory allows the Falcons to look ahead to next week’s game against Miami University to secure the MAC championship.
Although the game was closer than many of the games the team has played this year, the Falcons still dominated Dayton the whole game and claimed another lopsided victory.
“We scored less points than last week, but we played a better opponent and overall played a better game,” said captain Dane Szente.
Scrum half Mike Powell and lock Brian Kean started off the scoring with a pair of tries early in the game.
Center Trent Szente and Prop Alex Garnaut also added tries of their own. Prop Dane Szente tacked on three conversion kicks to give the Falcons a 26-14 lead over Dayton at the half. BG pulled away with the game in the second half and crushed any hope Dayton has of sneaking away with a victory.
“By the second half we were hitting our offloads like clockwork,” said head coach Tony Mazzarella.
Fullback Matt Marquette put two tries on the board and wing Steve Fritsch and hooker Mike Brown touched down tries of their own. Szente ran in two tries and dotted three conversion kicks, along with one penalty kick to secure 62-20 win.
The Falcons’ dominance was directly related to their hard work and dedication to fitness in between practices.
“Clearly fitness is paramount in modern rugby,” said BG’s Director of Rugby Rodger Mazzarella. “Come the 50th minute and we are still sprinting and our opponent is starting to flag, that is when you see us shift into high gear.”
Dayton finishes their season at 6-6-1 and 3-3-1 in the MAC.
In the second (non-league) match, BG defeated Dayton 79-5. Wing Drew Salvagni and prop Kevin Trickel both had stellar performances. Salvagni scored four tries, while Trickel scored three. The two accounted for over half of BG’s thirteen scores.
Wing Cole Shaffer chipped in nineteen points with a try and seven conversion kicks. Fly half Nick Ross scored a pair of tries and Lock Alex Cranmer, center Ted Kilgore and scrum half Kevin Van Horn scored one apiece.
The freshmen squad also added to the win total on the day by beating Tiffin University by a score of 17-7. Prop Corey Bohach, flanker Jon Adams and fly half Andrew Slonkosky all scored tries while Slonkosky slotted one conversion.
The Falcons are now 20-0 overall and 6-0 in the Mid American Conference. BG will host 10-3-1 Miami this Saturday at 1:00 p.m. at the College Park Rugby Field for the MAC championship and the right to go on to post season play.
