In a sloppy game between two inexperienced sides, the Wake Forest second side defeated Davidson 18-17 on a beautiful Saturday afternoon on the Davidson campus. Davidson opened the scoring early with an unconverted try as Wake Forest looked completely out of sorts. But the Wake forwards settled down, lead by the solid play of captain Dave Poplaski and freshman flanker Brendan Shea, and Wake eventually responded with a try of its own when flyhalf JD Harrison lofted a perfect kick to the corner where it was gathered in and touched down by freshman outside center Ben Cohen. The touchline conversion fell short, but Harrison was good with the boot on penalty goals twice more before half and Wake went into the break up 11-5.
Davidson scored another unconverted try to start the second half and cut the lead to 11-10, but Cohen responded by matching his second try of the day after a solid individual effort where he chipped over the Davidson defenders into the tryzone and then outpaced the defense to touch down. Harrison converted to put Wake ahead 18-10. Davidson responded with another try, this one converted, to close the gap to 18-17. The Wake defense then held on for the final ten minutes as Davidson pressured hard to win the match and the final whistle blew with Wake inside their own 22 and on their heels.
In all it was a great day of rugby and Wake showcased some impressive depth as no fewer than 26 players took the field for the Demon Deacons with at least a dozen playing their first ever official rugby match.
Wake is next in action on Saturday against the University of North Carolina, who escaped with a 12-8 win over NC State on Saturday. Both a first and second side match will be played. Kickoff for the first side match is at noon on Poteat field.
