The Line up:
1. Jonathan, 2. Alex, 3. Ryan, 4. John, 5. Weston, 6. Elliott, 7. AJ, 8. Jake, 9. Cameron, 10. Andrew, 11. Alejandro, 12. Vince, 13. Marc, 14. Justin, 15. Brian
Reserves - Mohammad in for 2 and Stephen in for Vince, Ahmad in for Jake, all three, 2nd half subs.
On an unseasonably warm evening UT Dallas and ASU went at it, ASU was bigger and slightly faster in the beginning of the match. ASU went at UT Dallas and threw everything they had at us, but with the confidence of having been in this situation before. UT Dallas kept their composure and did the things they needed to do to stay close. Scoring went both ways, but it was UT Dallas in the end getting the victory, winning 32 to 20. To earn the second spot in the championships.
UT Dallas scorers: Vince (2 Trys, 2 Conversions, 1 Penalty Kick for 17 points alone), AJ got back in the scorers book with 1 Try, Cameron (1 Try), Ahmad (1 Try).
Sunday morning, the weather turned very cold with a cold front that moved in over night. Sunday temperatures at 8:00am was 32 degrees and dropping also with chances of freezing rain, both teams agreed to move the match up from 1:00pm to a 12 noon kick off.
The Line up:
1. Jonathan, 2. Daniel, 3. Ryan, 4. John, 5. Eric, 6. Elliott, 7. AJ, 8. Jake, 9. Cameron, 10. Andrew, 11. Alejandro, 12. Vince, 13. Marc, 14. Justin, 15. Brian
Reserves - Dominic in for Justin (1st half), Jake in for John (2nd half)
Both teams showed up ready to play and get things rocking. The crowds were sparse, but the die hard supporters where there cheering on the Green and Orange. St. Edward's had been a scoring machine in the southern conference, racking up 5 matches scoring 90+ points. But they ran into a determined UT Dallas RFC who was bound to defend their crown as defending Lonestar Champions.
The conditions during the match got steadily worse, freezing rain pelted the players and SEU kept UT Dallas off balance with a series of attacks and defense. The first half ended with UT Dallas in an unfamiliar position, being behind in a match.
While some clubs would have chosen to forfeit the second half because of foul weather, the lads wanted to play on, they had something to prove and they went out and put some well earned points on the board. Early into the 2nd half UT Dallas mounted a series of attacks and their efforts were paid off with Daniel scoring the first Try for UTD, then later Eric followed with a Try of his own. Both conversions were no good because of strong winds.
But it would be SEU that would prevail as the Lonestar Champion with a score SEU 58, UT Dallas 10
While we may not have managed to bring home a third championship to UTD, we still have another weekend to play high level rugby. On March 22nd and 23rd, UTD and SEU will take on the top two clubs from the Eastern Rockies Rugby Football Union in the 2nd Annual Cowboy Cup Qualifier to be played in Austin. More info to come later.
So on 3/22 - UT Dallas will take on last years opponent University of Denver and SEU will play New Mexico Highlands University.
More info on Univ. of Denver and what they bring to the table will come later, but for some of you. You may remember them, they're big, fast and strong. We will have our game plan and work the lads on all aspects of the game in preparation of going farther than the Cowboy Cup.
I'd like to thank Rick Martinez for bringing 2 coolers filled with Gatorade, John Bradshaw for another great year of being our official photographer, Heather Ball for keeping track of how many people follow UT Dallas Rugby via twitter, our web site and facebook. All the parents and fans came out to any of our matches.
Special thanks goes out to the UT Dallas Women's Rugby Club for working the scoreboard during both of our matches, I remember some and if I forgot to mention you, I apologize. Alyssa, Lauren, Rachael, Marie, Amber, Judit thank you for your support and help.
More info on the Cowboy Cup to come later this week and next as we set our sites on trying to win the Cowboy Cup.