Bowling Green continued its decades long dominance of Mid-American Conference rugby as both Falcon rugby teams swept through the opposition in Saturday’s MAC Rugby Sevens Tournament hosted at Doyt Perry Stadium.
Sevens is an abbreviated version of the game the Falcons play in the fall. Each team fields only seven players and each half last only seven minutes, as opposed to 15 players and 80 minutes in the fall game.
The Falcons defeated Ohio University 29-0, Central Michigan 41-5, Cincinnati 33-0, Western Michigan 31-14 and topped Northern Illinois 24–5 in the final. The victories continued an unbroken string of Falcon MAC championships that started back in 1982.
In an ominous note to the rest of the MAC schools, the seven players that started the final match included a single senior, a junior, two sophomores and three freshmen. The rest of the twelve-man squad includes three more freshmen.
Leading the Bowling Green attack were freshman wing Adam Regini and fly half Teddy Terezis who between them scored 69 of Bowling Green’s 157 total points.
Regini scored five tries with his most important coming against Western Michigan in the tournament semi-final. With BG leading 19-14, Regini reeled off a 75-yard jaunt up the sideline to break open an eventual 31-14 victory.
Terezis 44 points came on four tries and 12 conversion kicks while directing a Falcon attack that swept the field from side to side.
“I’m sure from the stands this all looked pretty easy,” BG rugby Director Roger Mazzarella said. “It has been anything but that. Every other week we have had to switch from 15’s to sevens and back again. It has been tough on the players to make the adjustment as well as put in the additional practice time.”
Head coach Tony Mazzarella said it was more about defense.
“Defense wins games and that is where we really shined this weekend,” Marazzarella said. “The guys stepped up and challenged the opponent ball carriers, forced throwing errors and more importantly put people on the ground if they foolishly decided to hold on to the ball.”
In the final, wing Steve Fritsch opened the scoring with a try only to see it matched by Northern Illinois. From then on though, the Falcons methodically continued to add to their lead against a talented but tired Husky squad. Regini added a late first half try and Terezis conversion gave BG a 12-5 half time lead.
In the second half Fritsch scored again after stealing a ball in a tackle and running 75 yards. Sweeper Nick Ross finished the scoring with a 35 yard burst up the middle and his conversion kick finished the at 24-5 giving BG the championship.
This Saturday the Falcons will host senior men’s team Columbus RFC as they switch back into 15’s mode in preparation for the National Collegiate Championship. Kickoff is at 1 p.m. at the College Park Rugby Field.
