STEUBENVILLE, Ohio – Baron rugby dominated defending conference champion Grove City College in the Three Rivers Rugby Conference semi-finals, winning 77-0 and advancing to the conference finals.
The Barons came onto the field hungry and prepared for the match. Sophomore Ian Miller put in the games first try within the first two minutes and the Barons never looked back from there. FUS was so dominant that by the end of the first 40 minutes they had already surpassed the 51-0 regular season score against Wolverines with a halftime score of 53-0.
"Our guys have put in a lot of work and to see them executing what we practice in real game situations just goes to show the the work is paying off, DeLucia said. "They were just firing on all cylinders. It is by far the best rugby I have ever seen them play in my time as a head coach here."
Franciscan's training and effort was obvious throughout the match. The opposition struggled to make open field tackles as the Barons broke off long runs down the field. The team's offense looked almost unstoppable scoring at least one try every five minutes during the first half.
With an obviously comfortable lead going into the second half DeLucia pulled some of his key players, including his captains, in order to give his reserves some serious playing time.
"Typically, the reserves come in around ten minutes but we had them coming in at the half and the last one of our guys came off the bench at 21 minutes left," DeLucia said. "These guys got quality minutes in a meaningful match and that speaks to how good those guys are, coming off the bench and stepping right in to put more tries on the board."
FUS continued to dominate in the second half with Miller again starting the scoring. Captain Adam Smyth followed with two more tries bringing his game total to four and earning him Man of the Match.
"Adam Smyth does everything," DeLucia said of the team's senior leader. "He is a just an unbelievably smart and physical player and that is just a devastating combination."
Perhaps the most impressive part of Franciscan's victory was their ability to keep up their level of play all the way through the lopsided match.
"The entire team was hungry up until the eightieth minute," DeLucia said. "Grove City had the ball with ample opportunities to put one in on us in the last two minutes but they couldn't. It is that heart, that desire, that passion to be able to play the full 80 like that."
Moving forward to the Three Rivers Rugby conference championship, DeLucia said his team will stay focused and keep working hard to execute the skills they have developed throughout the season.
"We have an opportunity here to win the conference title outright and on our own home turf," DeLucia said. "There isn't much better than that."
The Barons will play for the conference championship on November 2 at 1 pm at home.
