The Bowling Green club rugby team trumped Northern Illinois University 60-10 this past weekend, ending its regular season conference play on a high note.
The Falcon offense put together another relentless effort against an NIU team that has never defeated BG.
Head coach Tony Mazzarella was impressed with the pace his team set against NIU, he said.
“We had the Huskies on the back of their heels from the get-go,” he said. “More importantly, we didn’t have a let-down in the pace of the game to start the second half.”
A quick start was a key to BG’s success.
The Falcons sustained a 13-minute long drive after receiving the opening kickoff, ending in the first of 10 tries for BG.
BG broke off multiple long-yardage runs, resulting in tries throughout the game.
In the first half, Cole Shaffer ran 95 yards to put the Falcons up 12-0 and then had another try from 35 yards out to boost the score to 19-0. Alex Garnaut, Adam Regini, Nick Ross and Steve Fritsch all had tries from 30 yards out or more.
Defense and ball possession also contributed to the BG win.
The Falcons kept the Huskies from scoring in the first half, going into halftime leading 28-0. BG did not lose any momentum during the start of the second half as the Falcons went on to score 6 more tries and keep the Huskies from scoring until near the end of the half.
BG finishes 6-0 in the Mid-American Conference, having not lost a conference game since 2005.
Director Roger Mazzarella said BG does a great job of consistently staying at the top of their conference every year.
“We enter every game with a massive target on our backs” he said. “[BG’s success] is a tribute to the tenacity and commitment of our guys to handle the pressure.”
BG moves on to the MAC tournament this Saturday to face Miami [OH] in Elkhart, Indiana.
BG and Miami have been rivals since they began playing each other in 1968.
However, Miami has not defeated BG since 1998, when current head coach Tony Mazarella was team captain of the BG rugby team.
A rivalry and MAC tournament advancement on the line, the game will be crucial for the Falcons.
“Now we get into the single elimination part of the season,” said captain Alex Garnout. “We need to bear down even harder to make sure we win out this weekend.”
