THANK YOU DAVID on behalf of the entire UT Dallas Rugby Club.
The week began like normal, but then took an interesting twist, having been notified by the referee coordinator asking if we could move our match up from 2pm to 12 noon, due to a shortage of referees, then emailing Chris McAlpine who was home taking care of his wife and new baby. He sent an email to his boss asking if it would be possible for our match to be move up and we got the green light to move the match up. Thank you Chris, for all of your support, while you were home caring for your family.
Game day, the lads showed up on time as usual, the pitch preparations getting underway, paperwork being adjusted and noted, everything was moving in the right direction.
I had to change up the original lineup due to the fact that our starting Fullback, Steven Shaffer had just gotten out of the hospital after breaking his leg in practice the day before and will miss the last 2 matches. Hopefully we’ll get him back in time for future playoffs.
The lads stretching out getting prepared for the match, the look of readiness on each face, this was going to be a tough match. The last time we met MSU they battled us the entire 80 minutes of the match. MSU tied the game at 24 with less than 5 minutes of that match, got the ball back and began marching the ball down field for a possible win. But it was UT Dallas that stole possession of the ball and found a gap in the MSU defense and UTD ran the ball in for the game winning Try and conversion. The score of that game UTD 31 – MSU 24.
The lineup:
1. Jonathan Holmes, 2. Anthony (AJ) Paradowski, 3. Nate Pyle, 4. John Bradshaw, 5. Weston Hearne, 6. Ben Bales, 7. Jimmy Chi, 8. Steven (Sunshine) Hale, 9. Cameron Broussard, 10. Vince Dutton, 11. Justin Thompson, 12, Brandon Miller, 13. Luke Lewis, 14. Alejandro Chinchilla, 15. Joe Conover
Reserves: Coming on for the 2nd half - Mohammad Nadeem in for Jimmy Chi, Chad McDonald in for Luke Lewis and Erbold Uran in for Jonathan Holmes.
Graham Horrell replaced Justin Thompson in the 70th minute because of an injury.
With that being stated MSU showed up, bigger than we remembered, and it was MSU that drew first blood. Scoring 2 Trys early in the game, but at the 20 minute mark UTD finally got on the scoreboard with Vince Dutton nailing a Penalty Kick to make the score UTD 3 – MSU 10. The match was tight, both sides moved up and down the field. The hits were big, the runs were fast and both sides knew how to exploit each other’s weakness and both sides defended very well against each other. After the Penalty Kick UTD found some gaps in the defense and with some
excellent running and kicking, we found the goal. Vince and Alejandro scored 3 Trys in this half and Vince converted one of the Trys as well as another Penalty Kick. MSU managed to score another well deserved power Try to close out the first half UTD 23, MSU 15.
The second half began the same as the first half was played both sides attacking each other with reckless abando and both sides tackling ball carriers with determination. This match wasn’t easy to play or coach, but from the spectators point, this was a great game. Both teams so evenly matched and the scores just kept coming. MSU added 3 more Trys in the second half and UTD added 2 Trys (by Cameron and Alejando, Vince added one conversion and a Penalty Kick) to keep MSU at bay. The final score UT Dallas 38, Midwestern St. 30.
UT Dallas scorers:
Vince Dutton – 2 Trys, 2 Conversions, 3 Penalty Kicks
Alejandro Chinchilla – 2 Trys
Cameron Brussard – 1 Try
Next Saturday (2/9) will be our last league match of 2012-13 season, our opponent will be SMU and the match will kick off at 3:00pm on SMU’s intramural field, directions will be listed in the section for those coming to the match. SMU will be a tough team to play against and we can’t take them lightly.
They are a proven and much stronger team when playing them on their pitch. Next week’s match up could look very much like the match against MSU in terms of size. They will have big bodies in their forward pack and a lot of speed in their back line. While the previous scores against SMU were lopsided in our favor, I expect SMU to come out and throw everything they have. They still have a possible shot at making the Lonestar Conference playoffs and knocking UTD off of our perfect season will be their mission.