STEUBENVILLE, Ohio - A final goal line effort came up just short of giving Franciscan University a final second win over Slippery Rock University in the tenth annual Rugby Ruckus. Instead, the Rock held strong and squeaked out a 19-14 win over the Barons.
After giving up the lead with five minutes left, Baron captain Adam Smyth took a long, powerful run downfield and got the team into scoring position within the final 45 seconds. A few unsuccessful plunges at the line ended with an obstruction penalty against the Barons, giving the ball to Slippery Rock and ending the game.
"We had opportunities to win this match and we gave it away," Head Coach Ken DeLucia said. "I'm disappointed in the last couple minutes when we had it."
The other momentum-changing play came with FUS leading Slippery Rock 14-12 when a penalty gave the Rock the ball deep inside Franciscan territory.
"We had a guy that was ahead of the guy who kicked the ball so when we kicked it out of trouble up to here and made a nice tackle on it, that gave Slippery Rock the penalty inside our ten-meter line," DeLucia said. "That pretty much set up the game winning score."
Leading into those last few crucial plays was a great effort from Franciscan as they stayed competitive with Division II Slippery Rock throughout the match. FUS showed considerable growth from their match against the Rock in their final regular season game of 2012 where they lost to by two scores.
Smyth led the team as Man of the Match with a try in the second half and consistently strong tackles and bruising runs. Freshman John Schuele was aggressive on defense and impressive running the Baron attach from the scrum-half position.
Sophomores Clayton Lang and Ian Miller also stood out as did a number of steam train runs from, junior forward Jonathan Rall and senior captain Danny Van Sistine.
"The effort was fantastic and they did a lot of things really well," Delucia said. "Everything we did out here were coachable mistakes. I understand in the heat of the battle you get a little tired and a little frustrated, and it's coachable."
Although the decisions made on the field led to a loss for FUS, the Ruckus will not affect the team's standings going forward. The Barons have two more weeks before their first conference match on September 14. DeLucia said he is confident that the team can address their weaknesses and continue to grow as a team.
"Where these guys are right now, I feel really confident that we will do a lot of good things going forward," DeLucia said. "We can carry on and go leaps and bounds from where we already are."
