Wake Overcomes Adversity to Claim Victory over Cavs

Johnny McMurray added to his ACRL leading point total with a try and conversion

Despite being forced to relocate the game from the Wake Forest campus to Danville, VA three hours hours before scheduled kickoff, Wake Forest improved to 4-1 on the season and 2-1 in conference play with a hard-fought 27-13 victory over the University of Virginia. The Demon Deacon forwards led from the front all day, while Wake's midfield defense put in an impressive performance containing a very dangerous UVA backline. Five different Deacs scored tries in the win, including Atlantic Coast Rugby League leading scorer Johnny McMurray.

The game was originally scheduled to be played at noon on Saturday on Poteat Field, but overnight rains caused standing water on the playing surface and the University closed the field to play at 9am. In order to get the game played and avoid the problems affiliated with rescheduling, both teams travelled an hour and a half to Danville, VA, to play on a field that, ironically, was far more waterlogged than Poteat.

With both teams liking to play wide open rugby, it was clear that the game would be decided by which team could best adapt to the less than ideal conditions. That turned out to be Wake Forest, as the Deacon forwards won the battle in the trenches and used a tight attack pattern to maintain possession and territory. When the Wake backline did get into the action, they made the most of it, with sophomore outside center Ryan Tacon, junior fullback Johnny McMurray, and senior wing Brandon Turner all making long probing runs into space. Wake got on the board first with a try from senior scrumhalf Will Hank, converted by McMurray. UVA answered back with an unconverted try of their own, but Wake responded immediately with a try by McMurray. UVA closed out the scoring in the half with a penalty goal to make the scoreline 12-8 at the break. UVA were unlucky not to have put more points on the board, but were held up in goal once and knocked on while touching the ball down in goal another time.

While the first half was a relatively even contest, the second half belonged almost entirely to Wake Forest. The forwards continued to control the attack, but opened it up a bit and used long periods of offloading and quick recycling to move down the field. Sophomore lock James Watson and senior #8 Brenadan Shea continually broke through the Cavaliers defense and finally freshman lock Christian Gutowski went over to extend Wake's lead to 17-8.

Meanwhile, Virginia's backline attacks were repeatedly stopped cold by almost flawless midfield defense from centers Ben Cohen and Ryan Tacon. Unable to consistently break the gainline, the Cavaliers opted to kick and chase, but McMurray covered the field superbly from his fullback position and counterattacked well at every opportunity. With UVA on its heels, Wake ran in two almost idential tries. Both began with long linebreaks, one by Tacon and the other by Turner, and culminated in a series of quick forward phases capped off by unconverted tries from senior prop Matt Storck and Watson.

With Wake holding a commanding 27-8 lead and time running down, Virginia finally found some gaps and showed some flashes of the offensive skill that saw them establish themselves as a top collegiate 7s team last fall. But another ball kocked on in goal stymied any chance for a comeback, and although they did manage to touch down a nicely worked try in the final 5 minutes, it was not enough and the final whistle blew with Wake claiming a 27-13 victory. The five tries scored by Wake garnered a bonus point and kept the Demon Deacons in the heart of the race for the ACRL title. UVA also controls its own destiny with 5 games remaining, including games against all the teams in front of them in the conference standings.

Wake Forest head coach Patrick Kane said after the game, "This was a big win for us. UVA is a great team and we frankly were lucky to play them in conditions that kept them from playing to their strengths. But those same conditions took away some of what we like to do and I was impressed with the way our guys adjusted our attack to dictate play and create opportunities outside of our preferred pattern. And our backline defense was superb. To be able to shut down a backline as talented as UVA's is a tremendous feat. My only regret on the day is that our guys weren't able to put on this performance in front of a home crowd."

The Wake Forest second side suffered its third stright close defeat, falling to the UVA JV side 17-8. Freshman center Ted McGuiggan continued to impress, scoring the Deacs lone try, while sophomore wing Steve Hemric kicked a penalty goal. Flankers Andrew Estes and Kip Lewis were especially active on defense, and center Jim Kavalec and fullback Tommy Kinzer were stalwarts in the backline attack.

Wake Forest takes on North Carolina State next weekend in Raleigh in a game that the Demon Deacons have been looking forward to for some time. "Last year we lost to State on a legnth of the field try on the last play of the game," said senior Ben Cohen. "Then they beat us pretty handily in the quarterfinals of the ACI 7s this fall. So we've had this game circled on our calendar. Today's win was nice, but it means nothing if we don't refocus and put in another good performance next weekend."

The Wolfpack have struggled through a difficult early season conference schedule, falling to second place Virginia Tech in the opening week of conference play and then losing to first place North Carolina today. "NC State is an excellent team and the chances of them losing three straight are slim. So we will need to play our best if we want to go into their place and come away with a win next weekend," said Kane.

Wake Forest Varsity Lineup vs University of Virginia

1. Matt Storck, Sr.
2. Jeff Millar, Sr. (Bryce Lambert, So. @ 74)
3. Nick Conte, Sr. (Liam McIntyre, So. @ 73, Conte @ 77)
4. Christian Gutowski, Fr. (Paul Shumaker, So. @ 58)
5. James Watson, So.
6. Tim Zage, So. (Matt McCurdy, So. @ 52)
7. Rob Elmore, So. (Jaime Drewery, So. @ 52)
8. Brendan Shea, Sr. (capt.)
9. Will Hank, Sr.
10. Rob Kelly, Jr.
11. Franco Cima, So.
12. Ben Cohen, Sr.
13. Ryan Tacon, So.
14. Brandon Turner, Sr.
15. Johnny McMurray, Jr.

Tries: Hank, McMurray, Gutowski, Storck, Watson
Cons: McMurray