Wake Forest defeated UNC-Greensboro 52-0 on its annual "senior day." Wake's eight seniors were honored prior to the match and promptly went out and dominated play. Seniors Mike Wills, Matt Gottbrecht, Timo Kawira, and David Poplaski all scored tries, with Wills scoring two tries and also converting six of Wake's eight tries on the day. Junior Ken Forte, sophomore Hunter Lostan, and freshman Tyler Vanston also touched down for the Demon Deacons.
Wake led 38-0 at the half, and although UNC-G picked up their level of play considerably in the second stanza, they still were unable to put any points on the board due to a determined Demon Deacon defense and progressively worsening field conditions. The match was ended prematurely when Wake freshman flyhalf Tom Gibson suffered a neck injury and needed to be taken from the field in an ambulance for precaution. Gibson was checked out at the local hospital and walked out later that afternoon with a clean bill of health.
Despite the lopsided scoreline, UNC-Greensboro showed that it is a program on the rise under first year head coach Jeremy Linne. With the recent success of Guilford College as well, the Triad is on its way to establishing itself as a hotbed of collegiate rugby in North Carolina.
Wake Lineup vs. UNC-Greensboro
1. Matt Storck 2. Mike Duffy (Chris Ryan @ 70) 3. Kenton Forte (Devin Henry @ 65) 4. Christian Jewett 5. Ross Hilton (Charlie Crockett @ 45) 6. David Poplaski (Hunter Lostan @ 55) 7. Matt Gottbrecht (Jeff Millar @ 65) 8. Timo Kawira (Brendan Shea @ 50) 9. Drew Legge (Will Hank @ 70) 10. Tom Gibson 11. Tyler Vanston (Ben Cohen @40) 12. Mike Wills (Kip Lewis @ 70) 13. David Sage 14. Andy Schneider (Rob Musci @ 70) 15. Critter Commins (Perry Salvagne @ 65)
Sunday, March 1, 2009
Thursday, February 26, 2009
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.
Sunday, February 22, 2009
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 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.
Saturday, February 21, 2009
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.
Thursday, February 19, 2009
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.
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.
Sunday, February 15, 2009
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.
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.
Saturday, February 14, 2009
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.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)