The Rotunda

Issue date: 4/1/09 Section: Sports

John Graham
Community Submission

With a berth in the national championship game at stake, Longwood's men's rugby club took the field against Widener University in Bridgeport, Pa., Saturday. Widener was defending MARFU national runner-up last year. Longwood, led by senior Chris Davis and captain Ben Adams, responded with an overwhelming first 30 minutes of rugby and ran out to a 19-0 lead and kept the pressure on to win 22-7.

The first 10 minutes of play was almost exclusively in the Widener end of the field and was marked by several penalties awarded to LU. With normally reliable kicker Patrick Baden missing some short attempts, Adams chose to run an attack at the Widener goal, giving LU a 5-0 lead it would never relinquish. Ten minutes later Davis broke through the defense and passed to James Rasnake who scored on the 60-yard play. Eight minutes later Ryan Ballinger closed the first half scoring with a driving try. Baden kicks raised the score to 19-0 as the first half ended.

The second half saw Longwood trying to avoid a letdown as Widener came out hard. Longwood's hard-hitting defense lead by James Betz, Adams and Preston Leep kept Widener at bay. Widener finally scored on a controversial penalty to close the gap to 19-7. Fewer than two minutes later Baden slotted a penalty kick to give the final score at 22-7. With solid consistent play from the forwards in line outs and scrums, stranglehold defense from the back row and four of seven kicking from Baden, Widener was frustrated the remainder of the game. Davis ran the LU offense to perfection and for his efforts was named co-man-of the-match along with Adams.

This marks the second MARFU title and championship appearance in three years for the Longwood men. For the 2008-09 season the team record is 11-2. In 2007, LU lost to Furman at the national semifinals and eventually finished third in the nation. This years semifinal opponent will be Coastal Carolina University, who defeated Furman 13-10 to earn their first ever trip to the nationals. The national championships will be held in Cherry Hill, N.J., on April 25-26 hosted by the South Jersey rugby club.

Page 1 of 1

Article Tools