Men’s rugby finishes second

For the first time in the history of Keene State College, the men’s rugby team qualified for the national tournament. After two games in two days, the team showed it belonged among the upper echelon of teams.

KSC placed second in the national tournament, the highest finish in school history, runners up to Penn State-Berks.

The national tournament, hosted at the Virginia Beach Sportsplex in Virginia Beach, featured the top four division three teams in the United States.

The four qualifying teams were Penn State-Berks, University of Louisiana-Lafayette, William Paterson University and lastly KSC.

Teams typically qualify by winning their respective divisions. When KSC, which plays under New England Rugby Football Union (NERFU), lost in the championship game against University of Maine-Farmington, the team thought its season was over. However, KSC got a chance at redemption when UMF forfeited its bid due a scheduling conflict.

There was only one last unorthodox step needed to be taken for KSC to reach its first National Championship in team history. KSC needed to beat Carnegie Melon University in Philadelphia, Penn. on April 11.

The team played a sloppy game against a determined CMU squad, but a deep penalty kick by senior captain Andrew Plewa with ten minutes left to play gave KSC a 19-17 win, and a place in history.

On the first day of the national tournament, Saturday, April 24, Keene State College found itself matched up against Deep South Region champion University of Louisiana-Lafayette.
A win meant a place in the championship game and a loss would put KSC in a fight for third place.

UL, a school of over 15,000 students, showed up to play and built an 8-6 halftime lead over KSC.

Early in the second half, KSC scored a try on a highlight reel play by senior Kevin Day, who snatched a ball out of the hands of a UL player and dove in for the score, giving KSC an 11-8 lead. 

The conversion extended the lead to five points with 30 minutes left to play.
Shortly after the KSC score, UL took charge of the game, scoring two tries in a five minute span to gain a 22-13 lead with under twenty minutes left in the game.

Momentum shifted again. KSC cut into the lead after the referee awarded a penalty try, cutting the score to just two points following the conversion, 22-20.

Penalty tries are awarded after numerous penalties against the defending team occur in attacking zone. UL racked up excessive penalties in the first half, and after committing more in the second, the referee awarded the penalty try.

With less than five minutes to play, sophomore Matt “Lunch box” Brady punched in first try of his career, giving the Owls the lead, 23-22. Plewa made the conversion kick to set the final score at 25-22.

After a dramatic one-point victory over WPU, PSU advanced to the finals to face KSC in the championship game.

PSU came out with a vengeance in the championship game, recovering the opening kick-off of the game and touching it down for a try to take an immediate 5-0 lead. Less than five minutes later, PSU converted a penalty kick to take an 8-0 lead.

PSU converted a long penalty kick running the lead to 11-0 as time expired in the first half.
KSC would again start to chip away as it did in the semi-finals, when Plewa converted on a penalty kick to cut the lead to cut the lead to five.

For the final fifteen minutes of the match KSC pounded the ball within five meters of the goal line. The Berks successfully held up numerous try attempts by KSC, including one as time expired, sealing the 11-6 win and a national championship for PSU.

Jake Grossman can be contacted at jgrossman@ksc.mailcruiser.com