The Bowling Green club rugby team looked refreshed and well-rested coming off a bye week to face Western Michigan on Saturday, a team that has not defeated BG since 1992. After a competitive first half, the Falcons ended up trumping the Broncos 36-6.
Direct Roger Mazzarella said he felt that this game was one of two games to set up the Mid-American Conference finals.
“It should be BG, Western [Michigan], Miami and [University of Dayton] for the finals,” he said. “This should be an interesting game, they [Western Michigan] are a very up and coming team.”
The crowd was electric before the game began, cheering and yelling as the players left the locker room and stepped onto the field. Defense was stout by both teams to begin the game, making it difficult for either team to score. Frank Viancourt kicked off scoring with a try off of a nice run by captain Alex Garnaut. Garnaut had a great game, scoring a try before the end of the first half. He was named the most valuable player for the match.
Going into halftime with a score of 12-6 in favor of BG, the game looked to be hard-fought throughout its entirety. In the second half, however, the Falcons’ offense seemed to hit its stride. Steve Fritsch opened the half with a run up the field, juking multiple Bronco defenders and boosting the score to 17-6 BG. After the run and score by Fritsch, the Falcons began to pull away. The Falcons would go on to score three more times to pad their lead while continuing to keep Western Michigan from scoring.
Head coach Tony Mazzarella said he was happy with the results and was looking forward to bigger games down the road.
“Overall it was a good effort,” he said. We need to improve on playing a cleaner game for the MAC [Mid-American Conference] game.”
After the game, Nick Ross commented on his team’s victory.
“It was a good team victory. They were very good.”
A short comment speaks much truth. The score differential did not reflect the skill level of Western Michigan. BG could be facing Western Michigan once again for the Mid-American Conference championship. If that happens, the Broncos will be playing with a chip on their shoulders.
BG travels to Cincinnati to face the Bearcats next Saturday at 1 p.m. Cincinnati is 2-3 on the year and an upset could hurt BG’s chances at the Mid-American Conference championship.
