Wake Forest Senior Day and High School Rugby Showcase

This weekend Wake Forest will host its second annual High School Rugby Showcase, featuring 4 high school rugby programs. The participating teams are Highlanders-Chapel Hill, Triad Youth Rugby, Unionville High School and East Mecklenburg High School. In last year's inaugural event, East Meck lost to a very strong Unionville side in the tournament championship. This year's format will be different, abandoning the tournament format and instead focusing and getting the teams as much rugby as possible and desired over the weekend. The schedule for the weekend is as follows:

Saturday

10:00 a.m. -- Highlanders-Chapel Hill B vs. Unionville B

11:15 a.m. -- Highlanders-Chapel Hill A vs. East Meck A

12:30 p.m. -- Wake Forest vs. UNC-Greensboro

2:30 p.m. -- Unionville A vs. Highlanders-Chapel Hill A

3:45 p.m. -- Unionville B vs. Triad

Sunday

9:00am: Clinic with East Meck and Unionville

10:00am: East Meck vs. Unionville

The featured match of the day on Saturday will be between Wake Forest and UNC-Greensboro. Wake Forest will be honoring its senior class prior to the match. The senior class includes Matt Gottbrecht, Drew Legge, Critter Commins, Mike Wills, David Poplaski, Timo Kawira, Andy Schneider, and David Taveira. This class has been immeasurably instrumental in the success of the team over the past four years and they will all be greatly missed when they graduate in May.

Wake Misses Out on Playoffs

Appalachian State defeated Wake Forest 40-11 on Saturday in Charlotte, knocking the Demon Deacons to third place in the conference and leaving them out of the South playoffs for the first time in four years.

Appalachian State started the match by capitalizing on two key miscues by Wake, a knock-on from the opening kickoff and a ball kicked directly into touch from the base of a scrum. The Mountaineers turned both mistakes into converted tries and ten minutes in they led 14-0. Wake settled down and the remainder of the first half was played in ASU's end of the field. But impressive defense from the Mountaineers loose forwards and centers kept Wake out of the tryzone and limited the Demon Deaocns to two penaly goals from wing Perry Salvagne. Trailing 14-6 at the half, the momentum was clearly with Wake Forest.

The second half started the same as the first, with Appalachian jumping on untimely Wake errors and running in two more quick tries to extend their lead to 26-6. Wake Forest regrouped and a nice run of play resulted in a try by Kenton Forte to cut the lead to 26-11 with 15 minutes to play. But Appalachian State continued the pressure and ran in two more converted tries to finish out the game and clinch the #1 seed from the conference to the South playoffs.

Meanwhile, in Raleigh, East Carolina rebounded from their loss to ASU last week with a convincing 53-0 win over North Carolina State to secure the #2 seed to the playoffs.

Wake Forest will be in action next weekend against UNC-Greensboro. The match will be the featured game during the Wake Forest High School Rugby Showcase and Wake Forest will be honoring its departing seniors prior to the match. Kickoff will be at 1pm.

Appalachian State 40 Wake Forest 11

Appalachian State jumped out to a 14-0 lead in the first ten minutes of the match and never looked back, running away 40-11 winners over Wake Forest. With East Carolina's 53-0 defeat of North Carolina State, Wake now finds itself out of the South playoffs for the first time in four years. Full match report to follow.

Appalachian State Match Moved to Charlotte

This weekend's league match between Wake Forest and league-leading Appalachian State has been moved to the Charlotte Rugby Club's Skilbeck Rugby Complex at 2pm on Saturday. Due to University policies regarding weather and field usage, Appalachian State did not have a rugby field available for this weekend and the match would have to have been played on a football field. Wake offered to reschedule the match for next weekend on the league's set-aside makeup date, but the Mountineers indicated that they did not foresee the University allowing them on their rugby field next weekend either. The teams thus agreed to move the match this weekend to a neutral location and the Charlotte Rugby Club graciously stepped up to host.

Appalachian State has been the talk of the South collegiate rugby community over the past week after their 19-10 defeat of then-#4 ranked East Carolina. The Mountaineers, led by flanker Matt Espy, flyhalf Ben Llewellyn and #8 Ryan Murphy, have run through all in their way this spring en route to amassing a perfect 7-0 record. They come into this match as the clear favorite, ranked #6 in the country by eRugbyNews.com and one of the new frontrunners to be in the South D2 Final Four at the end of March.

For its part, Wake will arrive in Charlotte shorthanded, as flanker Trenton Justice will be out another week after suffering a concussion against East Carolina and freshman wing Brandon Turner will likely miss the match with a quad injury.

The match is a must win for Wake Forest, who will be eliminated from the playoffs with a loss against ASU and a win by East Carolina over North Carolina State.

Wake Forest Rolls Over Young Wolfpack Side

Wake Forest rebounded from its defeat last weekend to East Carolina with a 53-7 victory over an inexperienced North Carolina State. Wake retained possession for much of the opening 10 minutes of the match and were rewarded with unconverted tries from sophomore flanker Hunter Lostan and freshman wing Ben Cohen for a 10-0 advantage. Wake extended its lead to 17-0 midway through the half when junior prop Kenton Forte went over in the corner and junior wing Perry Salvagne converted. Forte scored again moments later when he found himself in support of lock Christian Jewett who broke an impressive openfield run. Salvagne was again good on the conversion and the lead was 24-0. Scrumhalf and captain Drew Legge finished out the first half scoring with a long try-scoring run down the sideline which Salvagne converted for a 31-0 Wake advantage at the break.

The second half started much as the first half had ended. After NC State's restart failed to go 10 meters, Wake executed a nifty play off the midfield scrum resulting in a try under the posts for replacement winger Brandon Turner. Salvagne's conversion moved the score to 38-0 and Wake seemed to have the game in hand. The Wolfpack fought back, however, and for the next 20 minutes dictated much of the play. A converted try from the State flyhalf made it 38-7, but Wake responded with three unconverted tries from #8 Timo Kawira, Legge, and prop David Poplaski to close out the match.

Wake now moves to 1-1 in conference play and will face Appalachian State next weekend in its final league match. App. State sits atop the conference at 2-0 after they upset East Carolina on Saturday 19-10. A victory for Wake in Boone on Saturday will clinch a playoff berth for the Demon Deacons, while a loss will likely mean the end of the road.

Wake vs NC State
1. David Polaski 2. Michael Duffy 3. Kenton Forte (Devin Henry @ 70) 4. Christian Jewett 5. Ross Hilton 6. Hunter Lostan (Charlie Crockett @ 15) 7. Brendan Shea 8. Timo Kawira 9. Drew Legge 10. Tom Gibson 11. Perry Salvagne 12. Mike Wills 13. David Sage (Matt Gottbrecht @ 60) 14. Ben Cohen (Brandon Turner @ 40) 15. Critter Commins

In the second side match, NC State defeated Wake Forest 25-10. Wake lone try was scored by senior Matt Gottbrecht and converted by freshman Will Hank. Freshman Rob Musci rounded out the Wake scoring with a penalty goal.

Wake Forest 53 North Carolina State 7

Scrumhalf Drew Legge and prop Kenton Forte each had a brace of tries as the Demon Deacons touched down nine tries on the day and defeated North Carolina State 53-7. Full report to follow soon.

ECU Continues Dominace Over Wake

On a perfect day for rugby in Greenville, North Carolina, the #4 nationally ranked East Carolina Pirates defeated #8 Wake Forest 30-25 in a South D2 league match. The victory marked ECU's 6th straight defeat of the Demon Deacons.

The match started with Wake Forest in full control and the Demon Deacons went up 5-0 off a try from senior Timo Kawira off a pick from the base of scrum inside the ECU 22. ECU narrowed the gap moments later with a penalty goal from fullback Robert Lee, but Wake's forwards answered with a nicely worked try from junior prop Ken Forte. ECU responded with a try from winger Drew Griffin in the corner and the difficult sideline conversion was slotted by Lee to even the score at 10 apiece. The Pirates' speedy backline continued to cause Wake problems and a linebreak at midfield resulted in a try between the posts and a 17-10 ECU advantage. Another Lee penalty goal moved the ECU lead to 20-10 and the Pirates seemed in full control. Shortly before the half, however, the momentum changed as ECU center Connor Duke was yellow-carded for a spear tackle that knocked Wake flanker Trenton Justice from the match with a concussion. Junior wing Perry Salvagne hit the penalty and the teams went into the break with ECU up 20-13.

The second half started with another ECU try as a Pirate flanker scooped up a ball that popped out of a sideline ruck near midfield and beat two Wake defenders to extend the ECU lead. Lee was again good on the conversion and the Pirates were up 27-13. Wake responded with a try from freshman flanker Brendan Shea and Salvagne's conversion made the score 27-20. Lee continued his excellent day with the boot slotting another penalty goal to put ECU up 30-20. With 15 minutes remaining Wake moved within a try as a nice backline movement put freshman wing Ben Cohen over in the corner. The remainder of the match saw Wake pressure ECU repeatedly, but strong Pirate defense kept the Demon Deacons from the tryzone. With seconds remaining Wake freshman winger Brandon Turner found some space near midfield and looked to be away for a game-tying score but lost the ball forward and ECU held on for the victory.

Wake Lineup vs. ECU

1. Matt Storck 2. Mike Duffy 3. Ken Forte 4. Brendan Shea 5. Ross Hilton 6. Hunter Lostan 7. Trent Justice (Christian Jewett @ 38) 8. Timo Kawira 9. Drew Legge 10. Tom Gibson 11. Ben Cohen (Brandon Turner @ 75) 12. Matt Gottbrecht 13. David Sage 14. Perry Salvagne 15. Critter Commins

In the Second Side match ECU came away victorious 26-5.

Wake Forest is next in action on Saturday in Winston-Salem against North Carolina State. NC State lost to Appalachian State 18-0 in Raleigh on Saturday in the both team's league opener.

ECU 30 Wake Forest 25

Wake outscored the Pirates 4 tries to 3, but solid goalkicking from fullback Robert Lee (3 conversions, 3 penalites) carried the #4 ranked Pirates to victory. Full match report to follow.

Results of Wake Rugby Fundraising Raffle

The results of the 2008-2009 Wake Forest Rugby Fundraising Raffle are in and the winners are posted below. The raffle raised close to $2500 to help offset the team's operating expenses and the team thanks everyone who gave their support by purchasing tickets. Winners will be contacted by email to arrange for prize delivery.

*First Prize ($500):* Kathy Gottbrecht

*Second Prize ($250):* Jack Vanston

*Third Prize ($100):* David Booth

*Fourth Prize ($25):* Doug Jones, Liz Gottbrecht, Tori Vanston, Conor Shea, Brad Hawes, Pam Stickles

*Fifth Prize (Golf Shirt):* Greg Wagner, Jake Compton, Thomas Duffy, Claire Broomfield, Carol von Drehlie, Holly Grant, Veda Elliott, Anna Cheluget, Gail Poplaski, Michele Wills, Catherine Coggeshall, Andrew Gentles

*Sixth Prize (T-Shirt):* Bailey King, Sara Ratcliff, Joyce Shea, Geoff Gottbrecht, Phil Conway, Ken Mateo, David Buckingham, Russell Larson, Jen Shields, Emily Vaughn, Jessica DeMart, Dauby Roife, Shannon Dunn, Mindi Steinhardt, Rachel Price, Valerie Thorpp, John Keough, Tom Shea, Marta Lewis, Aimee Davis