Slippery Rock, Pa. - The Franciscan Barons rugby team hit the road for their marquee matchup against fellow 4-0 team Slippery Rock and their homecoming weekend. Both teams entered the weekend with a playoff spot clinched but the decider would determine who gets to host and who has to go on the road for the ARU playoffs on October 29th. The winner would host the West division #2 and the loser would go on the road to face the #1 West Division team. The match did not disappoint as both teams came out swinging amidst a swirling wind.
Slippery Rock took an early lead in the first few minutes to take a 5-0 lead. Franciscan answered with a try of their own by
Michael Mills and a
Vincent Prezzia conversion staked the Barons to a 7-5 lead. Once again, Slippery Rock cycled the ball through and were able to dot down a try with the made conversion to give them a 12-7 lead.
Matt Orsay then powered his way off a penalty tap and Prezzia again made the conversion to give the Barons a 14-12 lead as time expired at the half.
The Barons kicked off and SRU immediately took advantage by some poor tackling as their #13 made a nice individual effort to score a long try. With the conversion made, SRU went up 19-14. The Barons didn't give up and after several pick and goes that chewed up a bunch of meters, Mills was able to break through and scored his second try of the day. Prezzia made a difficult angled kick with the wind and knocked the ball through to give the Barons a 21-19 lead. SRU would not relent as they battled back to score a try of their own and with the made conversion, took a 26-21 lead with about 12 minutes to go. The Rock again capitalized on a Baron miscue and scored what would turn out to be the winner. With the converted kick after, they were up 33-21 with little time left. The Barons hurriedly worked their way down the field to try to score quickly and still have time left to get a game winner but it was all for naught as
Anthony Chipps downed a try with time expired. Prezzia missed the kick after and the match was over.
The match was very physical as both teams tried to exert their might and both teams were up to the challenge. The Barons showed that their forwards were able to rise to the occasion and play a well-rounded match. Overall, the team struggled to make the initial tackles, giving SRU 2nd and third chances to attack in space. The backline of the Barons couldn't get unhinged to locate space and attack it. In the end, the Barons know they squandered an opportunity to host a playoff game. Mike "Carl" Mills was awarded the Golden Man of the Match for his stellar play in attacking with the ball in his first match as a starter as a lock as
Ryan Nelson went down with an injury sustained during practice. The Barons also had several other new starters, as flankers
Matt Orsay and
Brady Cutler started their first regular season match in place of injured Matt Hennig and Steve Kilmer away on active duty service. They will hit the road once again after a bye week and travel to the West division's #1 seed team (as yet to be determined), while SRU will host the #2 seed out of the West division. The winner of the ARU semifinal matches will meet for the ARU championship on November 5th.
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